LIHU‘E — Nearly a hundred people braved threatening clouds and evening mists to take in the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours at the Kaua‘i Hospice facility Thursday. The event, the final Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours
LIHU‘E — Nearly a hundred people braved threatening clouds and evening mists to take in the Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours at the Kaua‘i Hospice facility Thursday.
The event, the final Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours for the 2012 calendar year, offered guests an opportunity to meet the Kaua‘i Hospice staff and tour the facility under the canopy of piano music and vocals from Ivo Monroe Miller.
Lori Miller, the executive director of Kaua‘i Hospice, said the event coincided with the month-long commemoration of November as National Hospice and Palliative Care Month and provided the community to get better acquainted with hospice.
During National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, providers across the country are raising awareness of the many benefits of hospice palliative care, states the NHPCO website.
More than 1.58 million people living with a life-limiting illness receive care from hospice palliative care providers each year in the United States.
Kaua‘i Hospice was founded in 1983 by volunteers who saw the island’s need for the provision of compassionate care for patients who faced terminal or life-threatening illnesses, states its website.
Starting as a grassroots organization operated by part-time volunteers, Kaua‘i Hospice has developed into a professionally staffed, Medicare and Medicaid certified organization with a supportive cadre of about 80 specially trained program volunteers and hundreds of general community volunteers.
“Hospice makes sure that people receive comfort, love and respect during one of life’s most significant experiences — the journey at life’s end,” said J. Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of NHPCO, on the NHPCO website. “The compassionate way that hospice helps maximize the quality of life is at the center of this year’s hospice month theme of ‘Comfort. Love. Respect.’”
While wrapping up a month of raising awareness, Lori Miller reminded guests of the significant holiday events being hosted by Kaua‘i Hospice during the holidays.
The public is invited to A Candle Lighting Memorial Monday at the Immaculate Conception Church located at 4453 Kapai‘a Rd. in Lihu‘e from 5 to 7 p.m.
Kaua‘i Hospice invites anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one, regardless of when that death occurred to attend the candle lighting ceremony where the special speaker will be a 12th grade student whose father passed when she was in the fourth grade and how her life was impacted.
There is no admission to attend the event which celebrates the glowing symbol of relationships which still exists in people who fill the sanctuary with hundreds of candles lit in memory of loved ones.
Launched on Nov. 23, The Trees of Remembrance can be found at the Kukui Grove Center, the Princeville Shopping Center and The Shops at Kuku‘iula through Dec. 24.
A donation of $7 will get an ornament on which the names of a loved one can be printed and either displayed on the trees or taken home.
Those who are grieving the loss of a pet can get a special pet ornament, of which $2 of the $7 will be given to the Kaua‘i Humane Society.
Lori Miller said this is a meaningful opportunity to honor those who have died, or are far away during the holidays.
Visit www.nhpco.org for more information on the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. Visit www.kauaihospice.org for more information, or to contribute, to the Kaua‘i Hospice.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
