Service Learning Experience - Essay Example

What I did may not amount to much in terms of taking care of the physical needs of the elderly, but I do feel that I accomplished a great deal in helping out with their emotional needs. That is the essence of human service and is the core of what this course has been teaching us. What follows is a synopsis of the facility I volunteered at, as well as a more in-depth description of my duties and what was accomplished. Location and General Description of the Agency My contact at the agency was Hannah Fuss.

Her office is located at 4107 Barbican Avenue, Suite 220 in Weston, WI. Asera Hospice is a private institution with facilities in 19 states across the country. Wisconsin alone has three such facilities serving the emotional and physical needs of the elderly. The hospice company itself is a part of the Golden Living Group, touting itself as “one of the nation’s premiere providers of health care services for the aging”. Each facility affords a full range of hospice and palliative care services for terminally ill patients.

This includes complete medical care, nursing care, social worker counseling, volunteer services, spiritual support, physical, occupational and speech therapy, personal care assistance, nutrition counseling and bereavement services. In essence, Asera Hospice, and facilities like it, is designed to provide whatever care they can to the elderly who are terminally ill, as well as providing support for the entire family. Mission, Values, Goals, and Objectives of the Asera Hospice The mission of Asera Hospice is to treat each of their patient’s end-of-life journeys with respect, kindness, compassion, and support.

They employ a family-centered approach. In doing so, they work to ensure that the needs and wishes of both the patient and their family members are met at every stage of the hospice experience. As mentioned, they do provide a wide range of hospice care services that includes access to a physician, nurse, therapy, social worker needs, counseling, and personal as well as spiritual care. The hospice facility aims to have a quick referral time. Once a referral is made to Asera Hospice, their goal is to admit the patient within 24 hours.

Their objectives also include daily contact with patients. The staff at each facility is in daily contact with all patients, either by scheduled nursing visits, or by phone calls to patients if they are not receiving visits that day. Finally, Asera Hospice makes it known that they strive to be present at the end of every hospice journey. One of their core values is that they treat patients like family. As such, it is their stated objective that they will make every effort to be there to see them and their families through the difficult passage into death.

How Patients are Referred and the Services Offered Hospice patients are generally referred to the facility. This usually comes in the form of a phone call from either a family member or the patient’s personal physician. Once that call is made, an entire process is put into place, from ensuring that a bed is provided to the patient, to making sure that the extended family refers the care and counseling they need as well. Coordination take place with family’s physician and a hospice care plan is put into place.

As mentioned, this all usually takes place within the first 24 hours. During my time volunteering at the