St. Cloud Hospital Home Care and Hospice Services are proud partners of We Honor Veterans.

Each year more than 25 percent of those who die in the United States are veterans. To help provide care and support that reflect the important contributions made by these men and women, St .Cloud Hospital Home Care and Hospice Services has become a national partner of We Honor Veterans, a pioneering campaign developed by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

St. Cloud Hospital Home Care & Hospice has met stringent training requirements to improve the care they provide to the veterans they proudly serve.

Veterans and end-of-life care:

• Veterans share a unique culture from their war experiences, and these experiences may greatly impact end-of-life care.
• The concept of “stoicism” -- an indifference to pleasure or pain -- is taught to soldiers for a valuable reason on the battlefield, but not dealing with pain at end of life can interfere with peaceful dying or effective bereavement.
• Some veterans who served in a dangerous duty assignment might have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). If PTSD surfaces at the end of life, staff needs to be prepared to respond to the veteran’s needs.
• Many hospice agencies utilize veterans and their family as hospice volunteers. Pairing a veteran volunteer with a dying veteran often results in a mutual camaraderie and brotherhood.
• One simple, but important question we ask upon admission to our agency is: “Have you served our country?” This question can alert our staff to perform a “Military History Checklist” to assure the veteran is connected to the VA for benefits.
• Another important component of We Honor Veterans is to “thank” veterans for serving our country. A certificate is created with their name and service category and a small ceremony is conducted with family and staff to present the certificate.

These are just a few ways our agency acknowledges and serves veterans. It is a great honor for our staff to care for veterans and support their loved ones.

Learn more about We Honor Veterans
Learn more about the Department of Veteran Affairs or call (800) 827-1000

(Resource: Fact Sheet, Veterans and End-of-life Care, Hospice Foundation of America.)