To the editor:
November is National Hospice Month. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the staff and volunteers of Merrimack Valley Hospice for the outstanding care they provide to patients who are coping with life limiting illnesses and their families. Whether at home, at the Merrimack Valley Hospice House, in a hospital, a long term care facility, or an assisted living, the staff of Merrimack Valley Hospice offers patients comprehensive physical, spiritual and emotional care essential to those nearing the end of life.
Merrimack Valley Hospice offers an approach to care that emphasizes comfort and compassion to patients and emotional support to families. Our dedicated, interdisciplinary teams of health care professionals and volunteers provide a wide range of services so that patients can live their last months surrounded by family and friends.
Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the modern hospice movement, states: "You matter to the last moment of your life, and we will do all we can, not only to help you die peacefully, but to live until you die." Every day the staff and volunteers of Merrimack Valley Hospice work tirelessly to affirm that statement and to honor the wishes of patients and families across our region — to live fully until the end and to die peacefully at home.
Merrimack Valley Hospice serves more than 1,500 terminally ill individuals and their families each year and our chaplains and bereavement coordinators provide support groups and other services to hundreds more.
Please join me in recognizing November as National Hospice Month and in acknowledging the dedicated staff of Merrimack Valley Hospice.
Joan Stygles Hull
President
Merrimack Valley Hospice
