In the Words of Amanda, The Foundation Helps Lift the Burden

Amanda Mueller, LMSW with the East Lansing, MI Elara Caring Hospice team considers herself to be a patient advocate. In her day-to-day engagement with patients and families navigating end-of-life, she often finds opportunities for extra supports that would enable better quality of life for them, but their resources may be limited. Take, for example, a recent situation she encountered with a middle-aged patient with a terminal illness who was residing in a long-term care family with no clothing or personal belongings. Amanda met with this patient and she and her team coordinated various needs as part of their interdisciplinary weekly planning sessions for optimal care and comfort. The next step was reaching out to the Foundation via a Grant Request in JupITer, seeking clothing items to meet this patient’s needs for comfort and dignity.

When asked how she approaches this aspect of her work, Amanda states that she is able to identify needs through conversation with families. She talks with them about our Elara Caring Hospice Foundation and the types of supports offered through ECHF. While she makes no overt promises to patients and families that all requests will be approved, she advocates on their behalf and helps connect the dots by providing the Foundation with the necessary information to review and thoughtfully consider the request and need. Amanda has been very successful in seeking and being granted Foundation support for many of her patients, including support for patient needs like clothing, paying emergent bills, child and teen bereavement kits, By Your Side kits, Love-You-Forever Bears, dementia resource items like fidget blankets, and many more identified needs. Her grant requests are thorough and provide the information necessary for the Foundation’s Development Coordinator, Executive Director, and Board of Directors to make informed decisions pertaining to grant approval. If a question does arise, she is quick to respond to an email or phone call requesting more information.

In Amanda’s words, “The Foundation provides resources, necessary items, and support for families to allow them to be fully present at end of life. A lot of times family worry about bills, patients don’t have closure because of a last wish, or patients want to be able to leave a parting word for kids and grandkids. The Foundation takes a burden off families and provides a solution to truly aid in end-of-life coping, while giving back time and making memories. How lucky are we to be able to help these patients and families and carry their memory with us as we continue this work?”

Amanda expresses gratitude for the various types of support provided by the Foundation. In her search for resources and solutions to support patients and families in need, it is a strong tool in her helpful toolbox.