Tamara Ivanoff (center) told her masked hospice team of LPN Ashley McPherson (left) and RN Brooke Priest (right) she wanted to borrow their costumes for Halloween this year.
In the midst of concerns and uncertainties, there are always those who carry light, and it is most visible in places of service and kindness.
Tamara Ivanoff started receiving care from Good Samaritan Hospice just as the COVID-19 crisis took shape. Her experience was a bit different; but her hospice team was eager to serve. Entering someone’s home in full PPE gear is not the norm, and learning to provide care in it is a bit unnatural, especially at first. Still, Ms. Ivanoff welcomed her “suited-up” team of LPN Ashley McPherson and RN Brooke Priest with pure kindness wrapped in a bit of humor. She laughed as they entered her home and said, “I’m going to borrow your costumes for Halloween this year!” She suggested they take a photo (above), so she could both remember this scene and have it as a guide for making her own costume.
“I believe before COVID, we all took for granted the joy of presence and human interaction,” said Brooke Priest, a Good Sam care manager. “The time in her living room that day brought joy to all of us. As we felt a little out of sorts in our ‘costumes,’ she brought light and happiness and created a treasured memory.”
Good Samaritan Hospice is the only community-based, not-for-profit hospice serving the Roanoke and New River valleys. Good Samaritan provides a holistic approach to health care that provides hospice and grief support to patients, families and community members regardless of their ability to pay. To learn more, visit www.goodsamhospice.org.
