Central Wyoming Hospice and Transitions is now taking registration for this year’s grief camp on June 6 and 7 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

   The camp is open to any child ages 6-16 who has lost someone important in their life through death. The camp provides the opportunity for youth to spend time with other people their own age who have had a similar experience. The campers can share their journey, grow and play together.

   Trained staff and volunteers will assist the youth in understanding their grief, learn healthy coping tools, and guide them in developing positive memories of their loved one. 

   The camp is free due to the generous support of the Gertrude Kamps Trust. To register for the camp or for more information about Central Wyoming Hospice and Transitions, call 307-577-4832.

Central Wyoming Hospice & Transitions is seeking caring individuals to provide companionship, respite and occasional transportation. This five-week training will be held on Monday evenings from 6-9 p.m. beginning May 6. This free training is for anyone interested in the rewards of volunteering for patient and family support. You may come as an individual or with a friend. Class size is limited. Call us at 577-4832 for more information on how you can give the gift of time.

Central Wyoming Hospice and Transitions invites you to our Thoughtful Thursdays series, a brown-bag discussion featuring topics related to health care, aging and end-of-life issues.

This bi-weekly series will take place in the large conference room of Central Wyoming Hospice and Transitions Resource Center, 319 South Wilson Street.

The schedule of topics is:

April 25 – Funeral Planning with Merle Roberts.

May 9 – The Elephant in the Room: How to Talk about Death and Dying with Marilyn Connor.

May 23 – The Art of Rightsized Living with Kendra Good.

For more information, call us at 577-4832 or send an e-mail to info@cwhp.org.

Did you know Central Wyoming Hospice and Transitions Program offers speakers who can discuss a variety of end-of-life topics to organizations, groups and companies?

Our Speakers Bureau of professional staff and trained volunteers bring a unique perspective and a wealth of experience.

Topics include an overview of hospice services, making end-of-life decisions, grief and loss, hospice and spirituality, how to be a primary caregiver, talking about death and dying and volunteering with hospice.

Central Wyoming Hospice and Transitions will customize presentations for each group’s needs. All presentations are provided free of charge.

By Laura Hunsaker, LCSW
Bereavement Coordinator 

Most of us followed the fire on Casper Mountain this past summer.  Many of us have visited the mountain and have seen the once beautiful mountain is now a scarred mountain floor, with blackened remains.   As devastating as the fire was, we know that this form of death in a forest is necessary for new life and growth. This is the way nature recycles and replenishes itself.

The human life cycle is not so different from that of a forest.  As much as you may have liked “the old way” of your life, loss of a loved one has forever changed it.  The old forest is gone.  Your loved one’s death has altered the picture of the past landscape.    Your life will not be the same, which speaks to the significance of your loved one.   But you can also have a new beginning – your life will go on and you can decide how that will happen.

Out of the devastation, a new chapter of your life can emerge.  A new beginning is possible like the new life in a charred forest.  You may not have anticipated or wanted a new beginning.  Change is not usually something any of us seek.  We like things to stay the same, comfortable and familiar.  However, it has happened, and it is up to us to decide how the changes in our life will develop.

Many of us may feel that Casper Mountain will never be beautiful again, and it may seem like that for awhile.  However, this was not the first time fire has devoured Casper Mountain. Other parts of the forest were once ravaged by fire, but due to the new growth and life, the reminders of the fire fade away slowly with time.  The same is true following the death of a loved one.  Grief and healing is a process and generally occurs in small bits and pieces until eventually your pain diminishes and new growth and life emerges.

In remembering your loved one, remember yourself also.  Reminding yourself of the significance that your loved one had in your life is healthy and worthwhile.  However, you are an individual with your own worth and merit independent of your loved one.  Now is the time to identify and reaffirm who you are as a person.

The passing of time will change you, but you can decide whether these changes will define you or if you are going to take control in the next phase of your life and move toward new horizons and adventures in the life that awaits you.

Just as Casper Mountain rebuilds its life and hope rises from the ashes, you too can get through this time of grief to become a stronger, wiser person.

By Kristeen Terzich
Transitions Coordinator

 Since becoming the Transitions Coordinator in October, I feel like my job is like a captain of a tug boat that heads out in front of a very luxurious rescue ship. Our volunteers are a hearty and lively group who give their all to keep the ship sailing. As a team, we work diligently to spot castaways on deserted islands.

In our community there are many people with a life-limiting illness who would benefit from hospice but are not ready for a variety of reasons, most often because they are still seeking curative treatment. This is where the Transitions Program would help, a pre-hospice program that allows the seeking of curative care while providing additional support of a case manager as well as a volunteer. Our volunteers are our eyes and ears, each report helping us to provide continuity of care to the client.

I recently received a referral from a client who was not interested in hospice. He was still receiving curative treatment and anticipated a long recovery period. With his wife, they chose Transitions instead, needing an extra set of hands to help out with light housework, especially laundry. But it was not long after that that I received a tearful phone call from the client’s wife after a very bad night. “He’s just not himself,” she said. Because his decline was so rapid, I explained the additional services hospice could offer with the help of a nurse and a hospice aide. After a few more days, their family decided to begin receiving hospice services. Had they not been admitted to Transitions, his wife would have been left in a crisis and uncertain as to what to do next. Fortunately most of the burden was alleviated by having us in the loop and everything worked out for him to come into our Kloefkorn home for 24-hour skilled care.

On the Transitions tug boat, we want to reach out to all people who are struggling, to figure out if they just need a little extra help or if they need a cabin on that larger ship following us that takes them from one port in life to another with the best care and hospitality we can offer. If you know someone who would benefit from Transitions, call us at 577-4832 or visit us online at www.cwhp.org.

Central Wyoming Hospice and Transitions would like to thank the many businesses and individuals in our community who made Roaming Wyoming 2012 a huge success! This is our primary fundraiser each year featuring unique “bucket list” experiences for auction. All the proceeds are used to help patients and families who need end-of-life services, but cannot afford them. We never turn anyone away for financial reasons, thanks in part to Roaming Wyoming and our generous supporters.

We would especially like to recognize Diemer and Susie True, the McMurry Foundation, Groathouse Construction, Automation and Electronics, GW Mechanical and Western Medical Associates for being our major sponsors this year. We’d also like to thank the many, many businesses who helped us create 13 phenomenal live auction packages and more than 100 beautiful silent auction items.

We also were pleased to recognize Tom and Kathleen Thorson as this year’s True Wyoming Family. This honor recognizes a family who represents ideals such as hospitality, integrity, honesty and generosity. Central Wyoming Hospice and Transitions Executive Director Marilyn Connor said the Thorson’s wear those shoes quietly, but leave a tremendous imprint on our community.

“This couple has given not only of their time, their talent and financial resources to help our agency and community, but they have traveled abroad and spent time helping those in need,” Connor said.

We also continued the Quilt of Love where individuals can purchase quilt blocks in honor of someone they love by physically writing on the fabric. The fabric blocks and hearts will be transformed into a beautiful quilt to hang in one of our buildings. The blocks and hearts range from $100-$10,000 and will be available until the end of January. If you’d like more information about this tax-deductible gift or to see the 2011 Quilt of Love, visit our office at 319 South Wilson Street or call 577-4832.

If you missed this year’s Roaming Wyoming, be sure to mark your calendars for the 5th Annual Roaming Wyoming on Saturday, October 12, 2013 at the Best Western Ramkota in Casper.

Central Wyoming Hospice & Transitions is seeking caring individuals to provide companionship, respite and occasional transportation. This five-week training will be held on Monday afternoons from 1-4 p.m. beginning February 4. This free training is for anyone interested in the rewards of giving two to four hours per week for patient and family support. You may come as an individual or with a friend. Class size is limited. Call us at 577-4832 for more information on how you can give the gift of time.

We are very grateful to all of our supporters who have made our Wish List Program successful. We appreciate all that has been donated to our organization. If you would like to donate any of the following items, mail them or bring them to our Resource Center Administration Building, 319 S. Wilson Street, Casper, WY 82601.

For Patient Care

• Baby wipes
• Tide Free High Efficiency liquid detergent
• Resource Library sponsors for books, DVDs and publications
• CD players for patient rooms
• Electric razor with disposable head
• Bird seed
• Batteries – 9 Volt
• Toilet paper
• Travel-size deodorant
• Shampoo
• Lotion
• Kleenex
• Paper plates, napkins, plastic silverware and cups
• Bottled water
• Quart and sandwich sized bags
• Distilled water

For the Office

• White and colored copier paper and cardstock
• Dry erase markers
• White out tape
• Manila folders and hanging file folders
• 1/3 cut file folders
• New flat screen monitors
• Note pads
• Postage stamps (first class)
• Heavy-duty stapler
• Heavy-duty three-hole punch
• Letter-size envelopes – with and without windows
• Avery 8376 matte ivory business cards

By Russ Weller
President of the Board

2012 was a year of great challenges and great hope for us at Central Wyoming Hospice & Transitions. We faced many hardships, including increased costs for the medical care we provide, and a difficult decision to temporarily close the Chapman Home to save on operating costs.

But on the plus side, we also received tremendous financial and emotional support from the community, which allowed us to fulfill our vital mission.

Thanks to that support, we are on a good footing to start 2013.

We have reopened the Chapman Home and our management staff is working diligently to trim our operating budgets as much as possible without impacting patient care. We’ve started plans to help ensure longer-term funding of our organization, so we aren’t as vulnerable to highs and lows of short-term economic markets.

And as you may have already seen in a November letter and editorial in the Casper Star-Tribune, we are renewing our efforts to pass legislation that allow Medicaid to cover more of the costs of hospice care.

Currently, Wyoming Medicaid doesn’t cover room and board for inpatient hospice services. When a patient is in our care at a hospice home, they are responsible for shouldering those costs. For many, it is an unplanned expense at a time when they are most vulnerable.

This Legislative Session, we hope to change that. A simple alteration of Wyoming’s Medicaid law would cover room and board for patients in hospice care, adding it to the current coverage of hospitals and nursing homes.

Budgets will be a big issue this Legislative session. The Governor is ordering cuts across the board. But the fact of the matter is that this is legislative action won’t cost taxpayers a thing. In fact, it will save taxpayers money because room and board at a hospice facility is substantially less expensive than room and board at a hospital—where many of these patients end up.

And the effects won’t be localized to Casper. Inpatient hospice facilities are in communities statewide, including Gillette, Cody, Cheyenne, and Riverton, and all will benefit from the passing of this Legislation.

We ask a lot of our supporters throughout the year, and I’m going to ask you for more help now. Please join me in contacting your state Legislators and voicing your support of hospice in your community, regardless of where you live. It’s a little change, but one that will have a profound impact on those who need it most.

Thank you, and best wishes to you and yours this New Year.