Final Wish: A Charlottesville Family Gives Back

A grant recently awarded to Martha Jefferson for the Palliative Care program is just one example of how families are being touched be the work of the team, and in turn saying thanks.

The grant was a joint effort between a family foundation of Charlottesville residents Page and Doug Easter and the Martha Jefferson Hospital Foundation. However, it was Penny McGee, Page's mother, who was the inspiration. Penny passed away in April, 2008, but the relationships she formed while at Martha Jefferson proved to be important and memorable - ones her family couldn't let go unnoticed.

Palliative Care became a crucial part of the hospital experience for Penny and her entire family as she battled stage IV cancer. With the support of the chaplain, doctors and nurses, a sense of comfort was provided to everyone during the difficult process. "Doctors don't always speak your language. It's great to have a team that can come in and help decipher what it all means," said Penny's son-in-law, Doug.

The Easter's involvement with Palliative Care however, began long before Penny's family members believed she was in her final days. "The last time we took her to the hospital, Mom was feeling well," Page recalls. "I had every expectation she was going to come home again."

Althoug the team played an integral role in her family's experience, Page says they became intertwined without even realizing. "To us, Palliative Care was just another service that was part of the hospital. No one made it seem like people were going above and beyond the level of care provided on a routine basis." It quickly became clear to Page though, something special was happening.

"Mom really adored her doctors, her nurses and Suzanne," recalls Page. "Mom didn't come from a spiritual background, but by the conversation I had with her, I could just tell she was being affected."

So it came as no surprise when one of Penny's final wishes was for Page and Doug to make an attempt to have their family foundation support the Palliative Care program at Martha Jefferson. "Mom really felt Palliative Care had helped her and she wanted to make sure others could receive the same benefit," said Page.

Through it all, the Palliative Care team was a constant source of support. "They helped us deal with the emmotional impact and were caring, comforting and supportive, but at the same time they were straightforward with us," recalls Page. Smith even went on to lead the funeral service for Penny, a true testament to the relationship formed inside the hospital walls over just a short period of time.

Although it was an unspeakably sad time for the Easter family, the Palliative Care team made the experience manageable and easier to handle. "It's a different mindset, a different way of postitioning yourself," said Doug. "I think Palliative Care is going to become more important as time goes on."

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