Ohio Veterans Home
The Ohio Veterans Home in Sandusky and Stein Hospice have been working together for years, forging a model partnership which benefits veterans and their families.
In 1994 Stein Hospice, a not-for-profit agency based in Sandusky, began caring for patients at the Sandusky facility. Stein’s relationship with the home was strengthened in 2005 when Ohio joined a veterans’ end-of-life initiative called the National Hospice-Veteran Partnership Program, or HVP. The program is dedicated to increasing veterans’ access to hospice and palliative care.
Stein Hospice was one of the first to join the Ohio partnership, which now includes 78 organizations, said Kathy Hayes, co-chair of Ohio’s Hospice-Veteran Partnership.
“Stein Hospice is a model program, it’s an example of what can be done,” Hayes said.
Stein staff are on the grounds of the Ohio Veterans Home and available around the clock to care for patients and support their families.
Stein’s comprehensive team focuses on all aspects of dying, including the specific issues that pertain to veterans. Staff is well versed on funeral and other benefits that veterans and their families are eligible for. Three bereavement counselors have been trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, a mental health therapy especially beneficial to veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
While Stein physicians and nurses manage the patients’ physical pain, social workers, chaplains and counselors help with the emotional and spiritual discomfort. Staff members are trained to provide massage, Reiki, guided imagery and other comfort cares.
Volunteers take patients for walks around the grounds and spend time reading and reminiscing with them. And no Stein Hospice patient dies alone. When death is imminent, continuous care nurses stay by their bedside to manage pain and support the family.
Stein Hospice Executive Director Jan Bucholz has presented information about Stein’s veteran program at national conferences. She tells the audience that what sets Stein apart from other hospices caring for veterans is its intensity and depth of services. “We have an entire team that serves OVH,” she said.
On an average day, Stein cares for about 80 veterans at the Ohio Veterans Home in Sandusky. The number of patients served by Stein continues to grow, mainly because of word of mouth. A veteran or a family member notices the excellent level of care Stein is delivering down the hall for another patient and asks for information.
Phyllis Kerlin, now an OVH volunteer, said she brags about Stein a lot. Her husband Robert, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, was a Stein patient at the Sandusky home for almost a year. Stein nurses and aides were in his room almost every day, monitoring Robert’s eating, rubbing his back with lotion, and helping him brush his teeth.
“I knew if I needed anything, they’d be there,” she said. “They were all very lovely people.”
Stein’s commitment to the veterans and their families extends beyond the walls of OVH.
One of the military programs sponsored by Stein is “In It Together.” Stein Hospice receptionist Robin Baum, whose son is in the military, and Rev. Charles Odums, a Stein chaplain and parent of a slain soldier, started the support group to comfort and assist families with loved ones who are deployed.
The group meets the first Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. and is open to all area families. The meeting is held at the American Legion on Hayes Avenue in Sandusky.
In another effort to reach out to military families, Stein’s bereavement department started a support group called “Club USA.” The club is for children ages 7 to 12 years old and meets for 11 weeks. That program is also free and open to all.
Jan Bucholz said Stein’s services and programs geared to veterans are constantly evolving. “We’re always looking at ways to support veterans and their families,” she said.