'Part of the family'

Thad Deas, 86, moved back to Awendaw 30 years ago to care for his mother, who later died. Now in failing health himself, he's found a new family with hospice.

Beacon Hospice nurses and social workers have been assisting Deas since a doctor referred him to the program in July.

Nurses give him medical assessments, but hospice providers also give Deas some needed company.

"I like people," Deas said.

Deas stands up and slowly shuffles when he walks from patio furniture on the front porch to enter his home. He doesn't have a car or telephone. Neighbors check on him, as do some family members in the area.

"He's grateful to have someone there," said Harriet Watkins, Beacon Hospice community relations coordinator and nurse. "He's used to being with people all the time."

But Deas, who wanted his medical information to be kept private, was reluctant to accept hospice at first. Some equate hospice care with imminent death and therefore avoid it, workers said.

Doctors even hesitate to mention the word because of how patients and families will respond, said Dr. Paul Rousseau, who specializes in palliative care at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. They may think their doctors are giving up on them, Rousseau said.

Hospice is a wonderful program, he said.

"They take care of not only the people that are sick, but also the family," he said.

Hospice is there to make the last days as comfortable as possible for the patient and family. It provides nursing care, equipment, medicine, a physician, social worker, chaplain, and grief and bereavement services. Services to the family continue 12 months after death.

"They build a rapport with a family and become part of the family," Rousseau said.

Many times, though, people are referred too late, he said.

Watkins said they have had patients who died after just two days of hospice.

A requirement for hospice care is that the patient must be terminally ill with less than six months to live if the illness were to run its normal course. But Rousseau said he would love to see the requirement expanded so that patients could be referred even earlier.

"It's nice to get them early. That way, we can possibly help them get better," Watkins said.

Beacon Hospice in Mount Pleasant is one of about 30 hospices serving patients in Charleston County. It is also licensed to serve patients in Berkeley and Dorchester counties. Hospice programs are licensed by the state, but the state doesn't limit the number of hospice programs, as it does with medical facilities.

Hospices have to work to survive, some offering services that are not required or funded through Medicare or Medicaid, Watkins said.

Hospice of Charleston, which has offered services for 29 years, opened an inpatient hospice in Mount Pleasant three years ago, Kesha Graham, an account executive with the hospice said, to help patients manage problems that couldn't be treated at home. It's one of the only hospices in the area to offer hospice care, home health care and inpatient services.

And Carolina Hospice, for example, offers bereavement and caregiver support groups that are open to anyone regardless of whether they are using the hospice, said Suzanne Kouba, a registered nurse and case manager for community outreach. Kouba said hospices pop up all the time and it's important to see how long they've been around. Carolina Hospice opened 11 years ago.

"Some (hospices) don't make it," Watkins said. "You have to set yourself apart to get the referrals."

For Beacon Hospice, that means going above and beyond to add that personal touch. Hospice employees might make a patient's favorite meal, for instance.

Certified nurse's aide Valorie Johnson recently took Deas out to eat with her own family. And Johnson and other employees spent a day cleaning Deas' Awendaw home, brushing away cobwebs and sorting through piles of clothes. It's something Deas wasn't able to do on his own.

"We get a charge out of that," Watkins said, adding they also enjoy becoming part of their patients' families through the hospice process.

"It really is such an honor," Watkins said. "We are so moved by it."

Reach Jessica Johnson at 937-5921 or jjohnson@postandcourier.com.