50+ Lifestyles

Jeff Blackwell ­ A Heart for Hospice Volunteering

By Bill Sedlacek
Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois

Jeff Blackwell ­ A Heart for Hospice Volunteering

It can be from a midwife, doctor, birthing center or hospital, but we all need help entering this world. Some of us will need help if we exit this world from an incurable lingering illness. Those of us who will be faced with that, will be particularly grateful for the many fine hospice programs in this area and volunteers like Jeff Blackwell. Jeff, a retired educator with a 30-year career as a teacher, principal, and superintendent at Bettendorf, Pleasant Valley and San Rafael, California schools, began volunteering for Heartland Hospice in 2008 shortly after his retirement and return to the Quad Cities.

His association with hospice began when a friend applied as a volunteer in the program and listed Jeff as a reference. After talking to this friend, Jeff decided to look into the hospice program and also began volunteering. Besides feeling the need to serve, Jeff had a compelling personal reason to help. His mother and father passed just five weeks apart. His mother was in a facility that was undoubtedly well-meaning, but did not provide the support that should have been provided from a good hospice program. His father, however, stayed in his home and received what Jeff described as great support from an in-home hospice program. Determined to do what he could to insure those in the last stage of life have every comfort available, Jeff began his work.

Since he began volunteering, Jeff has helped over 100 hospice patients in their last stages of life. He has been a friendly visitor, a helpful coordinator of services, a sympathetic ear to the survivors and “sat vigil” at the bedside of at least 10 people as they passed, often the only person with the dying patient.  It is not possible for me to begin to comprehend the enormous positive impact Jeff has had on individuals and families in those difficult end of life days.

Having an educator’s innate curiosity, Jeff is a wealth of information on hospice and how the term evolved from its older meaning as a rest stop for weary travelers to a currently more common definition as a support program for the terminally ill. In 1967, an English woman, Cicely Faunders established what is considered the first hospice program providing institutional care for the terminally ill. The concept migrated to the United States with the help of Yale University and physicians’ groups. In 1974 the first hospice was established in Connecticut. Since then the program has gained acceptance and funding from government agencies and health insurance companies. As Jeff said, the term hospice is often thought to be a physical location where the terminally ill are kept. Hospice, he says, is a legal and medical term. It is a program for individuals who have a physician’s determination that they are not expected to live more than six months. Upon this determination, they are eligible for Hospice programs and any insurance that provides for hospice care.

Since I know that lots of folks my age are concerned about the cost of end of life care on our estate, I will add a personal note here. My wife passed in 2007. I had the benefit of excellent in-home hospice care. They delivered a hospital bed, a nurse came by regularly and I was provided grievance counseling after. Between Medicare and my insurance, this was all furnished at no cost. You may want to check your insurances and maybe speak to a hospice coordinator to get information. It’s all part of being prepared.

Jeff is also a volunteer mediator for Davenport and Scott County, working general civil cases and civil rights cases. Mediation, he says is a much more cost effective way to settle disputes than the judicial process. He’s also a Quad City Community Navigator, working with people (“neighbors”) who on their own have difficulty accessing community resources, such as housing, the court system As an educator possessing the people skills required in that profession, I’m sure he brings clarity and reason to the mediation process to the benefit of both sides. He is also a paid mediator at the State and Federal level. I really don’t know how he finds the time to do it all.

To learn more about hospice volunteer opportunities as well as being a “Navigator” contact RSVP by calling (309) 793-4425 or email dlayton@wiaaa.org.