Hospice care is a special type of care that focuses on the quality of life as individuals and their families near death so that they can live as fully and comfortably as possible until the end.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the comfort care industry boomed because many families feared bringing their loved one to a medical facility. The need for facilities is growing. That's why there's a new comfort care facility preparing to open in Rochester - Story for Hope Comfort Care Home.
"The Story of Hope is a house that’s going to be taking care of people who are at the end of life,” Arlene Nanry said.
Nanry is a registered nurse who has more than a decade's worth of experience working in hospice care.
"Unfortunately, they can’t be in their home because they don’t have the care, the 24-hour care,” she said. “But in this situation, they can be in a home and have their family with them.”
Nanry has been leading the project since 2014 when she realized the need for these facilities in her area was exponential.
"As a hospice nurse many years ago, I noticed that there weren’t enough of them,” she said. “We had sometimes 20 people, 30 people who are looking for a home, but not enough homes. There weren’t any openings.”
The comfort care home has officially been in the works for a year. The house, supplies, and medical materials were all donated to the non-profit to help get the initiative going. However, Nanry needs more than just supplies to put the place in business.
"Volunteers are crucial to the house,” she said. “We need more than 100 people.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports there were more than a million hospice care worker positions available in 2022. Nanry is accepting volunteers of all sorts. She says she is accepting people with and without medical backgrounds, who are available to volunteer for as few as four hours a month because the demand is high. It takes a special type of person to comfort families preparing to lose a loved one.
“Many people are afraid of dying, coming to a hospice house, and knowing that you’re coming to a hospice house is overwhelming,” she said.
She's looking for volunteers that are kind, generous and patient. Those are simple qualities for people like Cheryl Ennis. Ennis is one of the first volunteers Story of Hope has found. She knows how important volunteers are to comfort care facilities because she experienced them while saying goodbye to both of her parents.
"It’s very important because it’s extremely stressful for the individual family and having another individual that’s just a little bit removed from the immediate family can give people a little bit more confidence,” Ennis explained.
Now she hopes to share her wisdom as a volunteer to help other families. Nanry says it's a gratifying experience for them too.
“It is such a blessing to be part of a time in their lives that many people do not want to be there,” Nanry explained. "We hope that people will realize that volunteering is not only for the patient, but it’s also for them so that they will grow as a person and see how much they could do for others and show the love that they have for other people.”
The Story of Hope is expected to open within the next few months. If you're interested in helping out, volunteers and donations are accepted at storyofhoperochester.com.