CTMC Hospice provides 'beautiful death'

Most of CTMC Hospice's auxiliary programs aim to get people to confront their grief, something Bereavement Coordinator Abel Rodriguez said is a challenge for many. He compared the attempt to escape from one's grief to hiding feelings within a box in a closet.

"Life happens," Rodriguez said. "You start stacking stuff on top of it, and then a year or two years later when you want to look at your box, because life has happened, you've got to remove everything out to try to take care of what you should have taken care of to begin with."

These auxiliary programs include Camp Heartsong, an annual retreat for children and teens who have been directly affected by the death of a loved one; Faces of Hospice, a program that memorializes those dying within hospice care with a series of portraits; and the Family Grief Center, which allows families to gather around a dinner table at the CTMC Hospice offices and work through their mourning while sharing a meal together.

The lines between those administering hospice services and those receiving them often get blurred. Portraits from the Faces of Hospice program adorn the walls of the CTMC offices, and many of the subjects depicted in the photographs are relatives of hospice workers. Volunteer Coordinator Abby Hurst has been on both sides of the hospice service.

"Beautiful death" is not a phrase Hurst would have used before she began working at Central Texas Medical Center Hospice, especially not to describe her father's death.

"I used to be petrified of dying, and now I have no fear whatsoever," Hurst said. "I now teach people to sit with patients while they're actively dying."

In 2008, Hurst's father was placed in hospice after battling a degenerative spine disease for five years. Hurst was so moved by the care her father and her family received that she told her mother, "I'm going to work there."

She followed through on that promise and was hired just months after her father's death. She now uses words like "love" and "unbelievable" when describing her job.

Hurst was back in familiar territory Nov. 5. After getting an exam for what she thought was a hernia, Hurst's mother, who has volunteered at CTMC, discovered she had stage IV breast cancer that had metastasized to her liver. A few hours later, she fell and broke her hip in two places.

Hurst describes her mother as an activist who is always "blowin' and goin'," but after the bad news, she was spending 22 hours a day in bed. Hurst said after the hospice team took over her care, her spirits lifted, and she began moving around her home regularly.

"She's changed every community we've ever lived in, literally with her different projects that she's done," Hurst said. "For me, it's just so full circle that I can do things to help her."

On some days that "help" includes things like coordinating massage therapy provided by CTMC Hospice's massage therapist Velinda Pope, but on other days it means surprising her mother with a visit from the Texas State Chorale.

"I found my place in this world, and I love, love, love what I do," Hurst said. "I get to do all the fun stuff."

For more information on the Tree of Angels and CTMC Hospice's other programs, call 512-754-6159. CTMC is located at 1301 Wonder World Drive, San Marcos.