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Wednesday, December 2, 2020
There comes a time in life when it’s natural to yearn for familiar places and times. This is especially true when a person is nearing the end-of-life and seeking the comforts of home. That’s how Jeanne Jeffrey, a local Agrace Hospice Care patient, was feeling this summer.
Jeffrey has spent much of her 97 years in the Janesville area, where she grew up on a family farm and raised a family of her own. In Fall 2019, Jeffrey became an Agrace Hospice Care patient. But in March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic shook the nation and the Janesville community.
The pandemic meant Jeffrey, an assisted living resident at Huntington Place, could not have in-person visits from friends, family and most of her Agrace care team. Assisted living facilities everywhere were restricting visitors for safety after COVID-19 had spread through other long-term care facilities nationwide. The pandemic also prevented Jeffrey from taking trips into the community she loves. “I felt anxious and isolated,” Jeffrey said. “I had never felt that way before the pandemic.”
Jeffrey told her Agrace team she wished she could visit a recently installed bench honoring her family on the Ice Age Trail. It sits on land that had once been her family farm. Agrace’s staff realized how important this was and began to coordinate with Agrace’s Wish Program and others to give Jeffrey a ride “back to her roots.”
While not extravagant, Jeffrey’s wish is like others granted through the Wish Program. “Hospice patients often long for something simple that brings them peace and comfort in their final days: a gathering with family or a small trip,” said Lisa Dahlgren, development manager for Agrace in Janesville. “How the Agrace care team listens to what is truly important to the patient makes these wishes so special. Sometimes a patient’s happiness is found in their own backyard.”
Jeffrey and her wish are the subject of Agrace’s annual fundraising campaign, “Light Up a Life.” Donations help Agrace bring meaningful moments to patients like Jeffrey during life’s most difficult times. To learn more about Jeffrey’s wish and Agrace’s “Light Up a Life” campaign, visit agrace.org/lightup or call (608) 314-2927.
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