Some of the Companion Program team members, from left: Maureen Bellare, PA; Chloe Connolly, PA; Brianna Gearty, PA; Kristen Thoelen, PA; Erin Walter, PA; Carrie Fuller, PTA; and Deena Hoffman, PA.
Maureen Bellare, PA, in the Department of Orthopedics at Mount Sinai West, and her colleagues were discussing their experiences with patients dying alone—families feeling helpless that they could not be with loved ones and nurses carrying the burden of this challenge. They all wanted to help, so Maureen suggested to Palliative Care that an End of Life Companion Program be created with the help of her peers. Maureen’s team, which consists of orthopedics and medicine PAs, as well as physical and occupational therapists, obtains referrals from Hospice Care to identify patients who are at the end of life, and the team makes themselves available 24/7 to be a presence at the bedsides of these patients, ensuring they do not die alone.
Members of the team will enter a patient’s room, hold his or her hand, play the patient’s favorite music, say a prayer, and connect family members using Zoom so they can say good-bye to their loved one. They will spend about an hour with the patient, sometimes longer, until a patient passes. The End of Life Companion Program helps ease the burden on nursing, comforts families, and most of all provides our dying patients a sense of dignity. I appreciate Maureen and her colleagues for recognizing the great work our nurses have been doing and volunteering their time and hearts to share the burden…a testament that this is truly one team, one fight.
Submitted by: Jennifer Jaromahum, RN, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer, Mount Sinai West