Coping with the Loss of a Loved One: Hospice and Palliative Care
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 Carondelet Hospice and Palliative Care provides grief support services for those in need. In the summer of 2007, Kate Lagle lost her husband of nearly 20 years, Bob, to a brain tumor.
After a sudden onset and a rapid decline in the retired TWA pilot’s previously vigorous health, the oncologist didn’t hesitate when Bob and Kate asked him which hospice services he recommended. “Carondelet,” was the doctor’s immediate reply. And he was right; Kate says that everyone connected with Bob’s home care was excellent.
After he passed way, Kate found herself left with “a hole in my heart shaped like Bob,” she says. She received a phone call and a letter right away from Carondelet Hospice with information about bereavement counseling and the numerous grief support groups offered at no charge to the community.
When she felt emotionally able to respond, Kate accepted a Carondelet Hospice bereavement counselor’s offer to visit. Since August 2007, Kate has kept in regular contact with her counselor and considers the relationship a lifeline of support.
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Kate also began attending a weekly grief support group, as well as a spring workshop called “Life After Loss.” These workshops are another benefit Carondelet provides the community. Dealing with loss is never easy. Although the process is slow and painful, Kate’s connections at Carondelet have helped make her situation just a bit less difficult.