News

Matthew Harris/The Daily Item
Geraldine Ochenrider, 84, began hospice care through the SUN Home Health in July. She lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Charles and Gloria "Sis" Strohecker, in Herndon.

Support helps take edge off stress

By Gina Morton; November 17, 2009 Pulse Section, The Daily Item


HERNDON — Sitting in her star-patterned blue pajamas, Geraldine Ochenrider watched cooking shows and “The Price is Right” from her hospital bed. A dull humming sound hissed from the nearby oxygen tank and a hospital tray and portable toilet sat next to the bed.

“I’m sold on hospice,” the 84-year-old announced, raising her hand in the air and smiling. “I may look good on the outside, but inside is going to a mess.”

Diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Ochenrider moved into her daughter’s home and was placed on hospice care this past summer.

The family has found the care received by the SUN Home Health Center to not only be positive and encouraging for Ochenrider, but for her family as well.

Everyone gains

Gloria “Sis” Strohecker said her mother’s situation is the first experience she’s had with hospice care, but has found it to be the best thing she could have done.

“They take all the worries off,” she said. “Nurses are on call 24/7, including holidays. ... They’re all my angels.”

Having gone through a similar experience with her father eight years ago, she said he wanted to live at home with his family, too, but couldn’t. Since then, the technology has come a long way. Now, Ochenrider is able to stay in the living room and have her oxygen tanks nearby, IVs if needed, and anything that is needed is available.

After the death of her father and several other family members, Strohecker continually asked herself if she could have done something to save them, or give them a little longer with the family. “Could I have done this? Should I have done that? Would it have prolonged their life?,” she recalled asking herself. “I decided it was mine to bear. I had to carry that burden.”

In this situation, the hospice workers are assisting the families as well as the patient, and that is something Strohecker could have used in her previous situations.

“We serve as moral support,” said Tharon Holmberg, hospice certified registered nurse practitioner, and Strohecker agreed it wasn’t just support for the patient but for the families too.

“How are we handling it, is there anything we want to talk about, is there anything bothering us” are the sort of questions she said often discussed with the workers and the families. “If I want to sit and cry or scream, I can do it. They are bearing the weight for me. These are my extended family.”

It’s not just the families and patients gaining, either. Social worker Dolores Lepley said they also receive just as much as the families involved.

“Every one of us gains so much. They enrich our lives unbelievably,” she said. “There are a lot of rewards for all of us.”

Moving home

Ochenrider moved into her daughter’s home in February after the two decided she couldn’t live alone.

Strohecker worked at a factory near Ochenrider and did the same thing each day: she would go to her mother’s home after work to cook dinner and bathe her. After, she would go home, shower, eat dinner, and then her mother would call and need her so she would grab her stuff and go back, stay overnight and go to work in the morning.

“It was the same routine,” Strohecker said. “My husband said I couldn’t keep doing this.”

After consulting with the family doctor, Ochenrider made the move.

That summer, and two hospital stays later, the family put Ochenrider on hospice care to make life as comfortable as they could.

“She said she appreciated the work done in the hospital but she wanted to be home with her family,” Strohecker said.

A family meeting between all Ochenrider’s children — Strohecker and her two brothers, Tony Ochenrider, from Millersburg, and Jim Ochenrider, from Mississippi — was held to discuss the options and the family ultimately decided to seek help. She was placed on hospice care July 7.

Ochenrider’s hospice schedule has a different routine each day. On Tuesday and Friday someone comes in to bathe her. On Thursday a nurse comes to check her chart and vitals. On Monday and Wednesday Hospice workers stop in to visit and check on her.

Holmberg stops in one time a month and her social worker, Lepley, comes in every two weeks.

“It’s like Christmas when they come,” Ochenrider said, her face lighting up when she sees them. They always end the visit with a hug.

Quality of life

Holmberg said the organization works with the family and gives options of how they want to handle situations. Medicines are tweaked to help make improvements in daily activities. One improvement, he remembers, helped Ochenrider continue crocheting, which she would get out of breath doing. Now, she is able not only crochet but create cloths for those who come to see her. “I’m really appreciative of all that is done for me. If not for them, I wouldn’t be here,” she continued. “They gave me a little more time with my loved ones.”

The hospice care is set according to each patient’s needs, and can be more frequent or less often from individual to individual.

Holmberg said many hospice patients stabilize once they are in the program after a period of rapid decline. He attributes the social work and spiritual involvement — with James Taylor, a nondenominational chaplain with the hospice — to be a factor. “Their quality of life increases tremendously,” Holmberg said.

The family is able to remain in normal spirits by joking and being themselves through the whole situation, which helps them get through. “We humor each other,” Strohecker said. “We laugh and we cry. We can be humorous, but we can be sincere.”

Ochenrider has her good days and bad days. Some days she can’t walk, is dizzy, has no appetite and is nauseous. Other days, she can’t get enough food.

“If not for them, I know I wouldn’t be here,” Ochenrider said of her family. “I’d have given up. I’m happy here until the Lord takes me home.”