Last week's Budgeteer news included a story by Naomi Yaeger and her experience with her uncle in hospice. I was pleased that she included the philosophy of hospice, and information on how the public may access
a hospice house.
As a social worker for hospice it is always an honor, and is quite humbling, to work with people nearing the end of their lives. Each day I hear stories of where people were born, the paths they walked to school, their service to God and their country, and the loves that made their journeyings extraordinary.
I hear about their first kiss, why they fell in love, and often why she said, "I do." I hear about the joy of their first, of their second, of their subsequent children and grandchildren's births.
I hear of torn and unmended relationships, the years of unspoken pain. I hear of hopes, of disappointments, and of great sorrows.
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Yet I work with the most incredible people who daily put their best selves into the service of providing comfort, guidance, empathy, and extraordinary knowledge to help families heal and move through life's most mysterious tasks as gracefully as possible. Each day we are humbled to be invited into the most delicate moments of living ... of family.
Thank you, Budgeteer, and thank you to the community which built a house where families of all kinds can live life's richest journey with dignity and wonder.
Tim Robinson, LISW
Essentia Health, St. Mary's Hospice
Duluth
