Gardens of Western Reserve Hospice is focused on providing compassionate and dignified hospice care while comforting clients and their families during end-of-life times. While patients are in our care, we are pleased and proud to offer the following additional services to enrich and assist our patients and/or families.
Massage Therapy
Therapeutic massage has many benefits within hospice care such as its ability to relieve pain, improve circulation, and induce a relaxation response. Other benefits of massage that apply to both hospice patients and the general population include:
- Stress reduction
- Relaxation
- Lowers blood pressure
- Decreased pain
- Stimulates circulation
- Relieves joint pain
- Reduces swelling and edema
- Stimulates the flow of lymph
- Improves sleep
- Decreases fear and anxiety
- Decreases isolation
Massage can provide both physical and emotional benefits to hospice patients. The Gardens of Western Reserve Hospice is pleased to offer this amazing benefit for your loved one. It will be offered routinely throughout the year at no charge.
Music Therapy
“People of all ages enjoy music. Whether it is singing in a choir or listening to our favorite music, music impacts our mind, emotions, and memory. Music therapy is an established healthcare profession in which music is used within a therapeutic relationship to address physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals (American Music Therapy Association Definition, musictherapy.org). Music therapy utilizes the innate qualities of music paired with a board-certified music therapist to facilitate a meaningful and relational experience with non-musical outcomes.
Music therapy services at Gardens of Western Reserve Hospice are delivered by referral and based on the patient’s current medical and personal needs. Our board-certified music therapist helps patients engage socially with music, helps decrease their pain, process complex emotions and recall memories through song writing, musical legacy projects, singing, playing instruments, choosing songs and much more, all with no musical experience necessary. Music therapy at Gardens of Western Reserve Hospice helps us empower our patients in a non-threatening medium to live life meaningfully and peacefully through end of life.
Patient B, a woman with dementia, was referred to music therapy for positive social engagement and decreased isolation. She quickly thrived in music therapy. Connecting through her preferred music and love of poetry, the music therapist and patient created recordings of personal poems and favorite songs. Music therapy allowed for organic emotional expression and helped her create a musical legacy for her family.
To refer your loved one to music therapy at Gardens of the Western Reserve Hospice, contact Laura Kelly, Social Service Coordinator, at 216-916-1110.”
– Bonnie Hayhurst, MT-BC
Groovy Garfoose
Owner & Director of Services
Beautician Services
Gardens Hospice is now offering, at no charge, beautician services on special occasions throughout the year such as Mothers/Father’s Day, Birthdays, and any special family occasion.
Your loved one will look great and feel awesome with this extra feature!
Veteran Honors
Gardens of Western Reserve Hospice is committed to providing quality Veteran-centric care to the Veteran patients we serve. The nation is seeing many of the Veterans who served in World War II and Korea pass away—and the number of deaths of Vietnam Veterans is beginning to rise. We understand how a Veteran’s military service, combat experience, or other traumatic events, could impact their end-of-life experience.
To help provide care and support that reflect the important contributions made by our Veterans, Gardens of Western Reserve Hospice 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.
Veteran Salutes & Memorials
At Gardens of Western Reserve Hospice, we are cognizant of the commitment made by Veterans and their families. We want to ensure every Veteran in our care is acknowledged for his/her military service and sacrifices.
One of our Veteran Salutes is an individual Veteran Pinning Ceremony, which gives an opportunity for each veteran to share part of his or her story, be recognized for his or her service to our nation, and by doing so, find a sense of meaning and purpose. All ceremonies are provided by our Hospice Veteran-to-Veteran Volunteers. Some salutes are done at bedside and others are done more publicly with each Veteran receiving a certificate, a Hospice-Veterans Partnership of Ohio Honored Veteran pin, and a red, white, and blue lap blanket hand-made by our hospice and community volunteers
Gardens of Western Reserve also provides salutes and memorials by holding Veterans Day Services and Memorial Day Remembrances for assisting living and nursing home facilities where we provide hospice care for patients. At the Veterans Day Services, there is a formal recognition of all Veterans living at those facilities. For Memorial Day, we provide an opportunity for fellow Veterans, family, caregivers and staff to honor and remember Veterans who have died.
Bereavement Services
Finding your way can be overwhelming especially during the first several weeks after experiencing the death of a loved one. The Gardens of Western Reserve Hospice team offers bereavement services to assist and support family members and/or caregivers for thirteen months following the loss. These services are designed to provide the bereaved with compassion, support and guidance.
Each person’s grief journey is unique. Our team assesses and evaluates your needs. We provide personalized grief support, information, and assistance in locating community resources and guidance in determining if more complex help is needed. Family members can choose to receive regular phone calls and mailings, meet with hospice team members or attend our annual Remembrance Service.
Our Bereavement Services also utilize the expertise of our volunteers to create one-of-a-kind keepsakes. Handcrafted sympathy cards and watercolor plaques are provided to each family. Our watercolors plaques are personalized for each patients Life’s Interests. Memory pillows may be sewn out of a loved ones’ clothes to honor their memory and give grieving family members something to hold and treasure.
