Page 24 - SF HOSPITAL NEWS NOVEMBER 2020

HOSPICE & PALLIATIVE CARE IN SOUTH FLORIDA

VITAS® HEALTHCARE IN THE TREASURE COAST GOLD COAST HOME
HEALTH & HOSPICE
Sasha Noble, RN BROWARD HEALTH
Senior Admissions Nurse

After working for seven years as an intensive care trauma nurse, Sasha Noble “felt Carlie Jean-
right at home” when she joined VITAS in 2019 as an admissions nurse for the newly Louis, RN
opened Treasure Coast program, providing care throughout Martin, St. Lucie, and
Okeechobee counties. Carlie Jean-Louis,
“I tell other nurses that this why I became a nurse,” Noble says. “Hospice really per- R.N., is a case manag-
sonifies all the values we learned in nursing school, all the reasons we wanted to er for Gold Coast
become nurses. We actually help our patients, and we listen. In turn, VITAS supports Home Health &
us as nurses so we can support our patients and their families.” Hospice at Broward
Providing care during COVID-19 has been both challenging and rewarding, she says, Health, where she is
especially when hospice nurses serve as critical connections between patients and family committed to ensuring
members who cannot visit their loved ones. “From a nursing home or care facility, we quality and consisten-
can call the families and say, ‘We’re here with your mom. She’s eating her breakfast. She’s nice and clean, and she’s doing cy of care for all
fine.’ That means so much to the families, and they know we care about their family members as much as they do.” patients. Jean-Louis
works closely with
VITAS® HEALTHCARE IN MIAMI-DADE AND MONROE COUNTIES each patient and their physician to develop a plan
of care specially tailored to meet the needs of each
individual patient.
Omar Rodriquez, RT Compassionate and thoughtful, Jean-Louis is
inspired by serving others and considers it a privi-
Respiratory Therapist
lege to be involved in the lives of her patients.
A South Florida respiratory therapist for 25 years, Omar Rodriquez shifted his career’s Throughout her 13 years at Broward Health, she
focus from acute care, sub-acute care, and durable medical equipment after his father-in- has been devoted to her patients, embracing her
law's 2017 death from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and other underlying con- role and collaborating with her team to consistently
ditions. “When I saw how the VITAS team took care of him, it struck me that hospice address the needs of her patients and their families.
was a field of respiratory care that I had never considered,” says Rodriquez, who also Jean-Louis studied business administration at
worked as an X-ray assistant and physical rehabilitation assistant before pursuing a career Hofstra University in New York and graduated with
in respiratory therapy. a degree in nursing from St. Petersburg College in
“Seeing death is never easy, but to be able to use my expertise to support patients and Florida. She volunteers her time serving the home-
families at that very moment, to make them comfortable and help them with every less through Calvary Chapel’s initiatives and pro-
breath, is very rewarding,” he explains. grams.
In addition to patient care, Rodriquez oversees educational protocols for respiratory
equipment and disease-state management, including employee training and in-service
programs on respiratory therapy for patients with advanced illness at local hospitals, physicians’ offices, and care/rehab Mark Leager,
facilities. MSPT

VITAS® HEALTHCARE IN BROWARD COUNTY Mark Leager, MSPT,
has been a home care
Rev. Samuel Chandran and hospice physical
therapist for Gold
Chaplain Coast Home Health &
Hospice at Broward
Samuel Chandran joined VITAS as a hospice chaplain in 2014, after working with Health for 14 years,
Compassion International, a child sponsorship and Christian humanitarian aid program, providing physical
and serving as a pastor of an international church in Minneapolis. He was born in therapy services to
Chennai, India, and moved to the US in 2007. A fellow pastor piqued his interest in chap- patients in-home and
laincy and pastoral care. in-hospice care at
“I have always been drawn toward the elderly, the sick, the needy, and the vulnerable. Broward Health Medical Center. Leager is responsi-
Clinical pastoral education emboldened the pastoral call in my life and made me realize ble for admitting, evaluating and treating patients,
that hospice is what I’m made for, this is my calling,” Chandran says. as well as supervising ancillary healthcare staff
“The aspect of hospice care that I love is that every person has a story. To sit at the bed- involved in the patient’s plan of care. He is intri-
side and hear those stories, to walk that memory lane with patients and cherish those cately involved in the patient’s continuum of care,
moments...that’s what’s important and what I always cherish. I always go in thinking I assessing their home for safety and recommending
have something to give, and I come out realizing that I’ve receive much more from my patients.” In addition to his work equipment.
at VITAS, Chandran is working with international physicians to start hospice programs in India. Leager is in communication with physicians and
serves as a liaison during the transition of care for
VITAS® HEALTHCARE IN BROWARD COUNTY additional services to optimize a patient’s function-
al independence. With a unique insight into the
world in which his patients navigate, Leager is
MaryAnn Watson, RN
committed to improving their functional mobility
Performance Improvement Specialist and independence while uplifting their spirits. His
compassion and genuine spirit shine as he cele-
MaryAnn Watson is certain that her 25 years of experience as an oncology nurse pre- brates his patients’ accomplishments and their
pared her well for her transition to hospice care in 2013 as a performance improvement determination to meet their goals.
specialist for VITAS. “I’ve always loved working closely with people, and I’ve always Leager earned his Bachelor of Science and mas-
loved education,” Watson says. “That’s what nursing is: educating patients on the dis- ter’s degree in physical therapy from Neumann
ease process and self-care, and educating caregivers to care for their loved ones. University in Aston, Pennsylvania.
Education reduces fear, builds confidence, and eases anxiety. It makes for a stronger
relationship.”
Today, she educates VITAS care teams, trains new employees, and is a strong advocate
of hospice’s multidisciplinary approach to care. “For every person who has a terminal
illness, the patient and the entire family need hospice, not just for the physical symp-
toms but also for coping with stress and anxiety, for the emotional and spiritual aspects
of losing someone. We bring in a whole team that specializes in that kind of interdisci-
plinary care. Hospice is a calling, a service. It makes patients feel that they’ve made the right decision by choosing hos-
pice care.”

24 November 2020 southfloridahospitalnews.com South Florida Hospital News