Stay tuned for In Our Range on the way next, brought to you by Westgate Nursing Rehabilitation and Assisted Living Center.
Good morning and welcome to In Our Range.
I'm your host, Mike LeBeau.
My guests this morning are Sammy Zewick and Matt Agee with Regional Hospice Services and Palliative Care.
Regional Hospice offers programs to support patients here on the range where they live.
Their care team supports the patient's individual wishes for physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs.
Regional Hospice has been serving our community since 1992 and stands by the belief that all who are eligible and wish to receive the services shall be provided end-of-life care regardless of their ability to pay.
They're offering a six-week grief support group in Hurley at Range Community Bible Church beginning on September 15th.
Matt Agee joins us.
He is a chaplain and provides spiritual support for families receiving services from Regional Hospice.
Sammy Zewick is the clinical care coordinator for Regional Hospice.
She's a registered nurse and has been with them for two years.
She grew up near Milwaukee, Wisconsin and graduated from UW Oshkosh with bachelors in nursing and psychology.
Good morning, Matt and Sammy.
Welcome to our range.
Good morning.
Thank
you.
Morning, Mike.
Regional Hospice has been serving our region for 34 years, providing hospice, palliative care and support for families here.
So I kind of want to ask you
A question about your profession because you're in one where when you probably tell people what you do for a living.
they probably go oh you can get very solemn and quiet and so it's special work and people who are drawn to this work I find tend to be pretty special people and so the first thing I want to ask you is and I'll start with you Sammy what's the biggest lesson you've learned from your time working in hospice?
I think the biggest lesson I've learned is that no two families in cases are the same even though they are all signing up for kind of the same idea you know end-of-life support
It never looks the same from patient to patient.
Everybody's a little bit different in how they go through this journey.
Yeah.
So here we have this one thing that we all have in common, but just like our fingerprints, it's entirely unique.
Absolutely.
Matt, what would you say has been probably the singular lesson that you take away from all your years of service here?
Oh
man.
Well, that was a pretty good one there, Sammy.
I think one thing that I've learned or working with people is
approach on life and that like you said we're all gonna get our turn to die well you can't escape it I had a gentleman a few years ago he said to me I've got two choices and I said what what what are your two choices he said to live or die and I said hmm well you're right all of our days are numbered I could die today
Feasibly, you are closer to death than I am.
He's on hospice.
He couldn't get out of bed, wasn't eating much.
And I said, you're right.
You could stop eating and die quicker.
That's a choice.
Or you could eat and, you know, try to still hang on and be crabby like you are.
Or I suggest a third option.
I said, there's two women in there in the kitchen, your wife and your daughter.
They love you very much.
make some memories today.
And if you wake up tomorrow, you get to do it again.
And I think that's how I, I have always appreciated my family, I think.
But now I just cherish the little things.
It really distills it down, doesn't it?
It brings everything to sort of a fine point when there's not much
else.
Who cares if the Christmas dinner is an hour late?
Who cares?
Let's play some more games.
Let's just sing another song or whatever.
Thank you for those responses.
I appreciate that.
I'm going to write those down for myself as a little reminder when I don't want to get out of bed tomorrow morning.
Yeah, regional hospice services.
You guys were one of the first interviews that I did for in our range here and so I appreciate.
you coming back and you've got some more things happening as always you know it's it's been almost a year I think since yeah I think so last talked and this grief support group is coming up there is also I mentioned a couple other things there is a volunteer training happening out in Spooner so if you're out that way and you're interested you might want to give regional hospice a call and see if got any more spots available for that but I want to ask you what does a grief support group look like
Okay,
grief support group.
What does it look like?
Well, you're going to have two facilitators.
You got the chaplain and you have the social worker at every site.
We have four sites, Hayward, Spooner, Ashland, and of course, Ironwood.
Each site has a chaplain and a social worker.
So those two people are there.
The grief support group, they are free to the whole community.
You don't have to have lost someone under our care.
Anyone is welcome.
And you don't have to pre-register.
It's confidential.
It's, like I said, free.
You can share as much as you want to share.
And if you feel like, OK, I've shared enough, you don't have to talk anymore.
Most of what I have seen and heard from people is they go into it thinking, I'm losing my mind because I'm having these feelings.
I'm going through this and they find out that it's perfectly normal.
And
everyone else in the group
has been feeling the same way.
And they talk to their loved ones picture or ashes or remains and it's normal.
Yeah, so this experience of loss, grief is a tremendously lonely feeling and
We can get so lost in it sometimes that we forget that we're actually having a normal response to a terrible situation.
Yes.
And
it affects you physically, spiritually, emotionally.
Your immune system could be down.
Why am I so tired lately?
Because you're grieving.
It's normal.
It's fine.
And just like the dying process that Sammy mentioned, everyone's grieving process and journey is different, too.
Two people could lose the same person, too.
Two brothers could lose their mother and they're going to grieve differently.
Yeah, I've seen that.
Oftentimes that can be the cause of a lot of conflicts and issues in the wake of death is people interpreting other people's grieving processes.
Yes.
As something that maybe they're not.
When it really is like like Sammy had mentioned, it just just like the way we die, the way we grieve is going to be unique to us and our relation to the person that we lost.
Right.
Exactly.
You could leave the group, Mike.
Thank you, man.
Yeah.
What's some of the feedback that you've gotten when these six week support group ends?
Generally, how do they describe how they feel support group has changed their perspective?
A big one that I hear is that they feel normal instead of crazy, losing my mind.
Now, oh, this is normal.
And we have our monthly grief support group.
And that meets every third Thursday of the month at range from 2 to 3.30.
And then in the spring and fall, we have our six week.
And that one starts on Tuesday the 15th.
And that's from 10 a.m.
to 11.30 at Range Community Bible Church in Hurley.
The thing with the six week is you get handouts.
and their articles and and excerpts from books and things like that talking about how to cope with the holidays coming up or birthdays and special days things like that and you get to take the handouts home and you it might be in the spring but
come Christmas, you're really dealing with missing your loved one.
You can look back on that handout.
Yeah.
So this isn't just a support group, but it's almost like a program that a person can work to develop their path forward as they're moving through their grief because these events like first holidays, second, third, fourth, fifth holidays, sometimes when you're with people, it seems to me that the key of this is really for a person to be kind and patient with themselves through this process.
Absolutely.
I can imagine that the grieving process probably begins before the person has died.
Yes, it does.
And so as Sammy Frius, someone who's working with these families and with these patients going through these processes, what does that often look like?
I mean, you know, these people are grieving the loss of so many things, not just the person who's losing different abilities, but the family is losing those abilities as well.
So it's different and it varies like we've talked about this whole time from person to person and it varies from patient to family member as well.
And it varies as you go through the stages.
There are five stages of grief, depression, anger, bargaining, acceptance, and denial.
And the patients and families will go through these stages as they're anticipating the grief of their loved one.
We often lean on both our chaplain and social work support to kind of help navigate the system as a nurse.
A lot of things that come up often are like symptoms.
They're grieving the way their body doesn't work anymore.
So in some of the symptoms that might be coming up, so pain, nausea,
What have you as a nurse my role is to step in and kind of help talk through you know These are normal things that you're going to be seeing during this process.
This is what this process looks like Along with then adding medication of the patient so chooses to kind of help with whatever symptoms are coming up
You're there for you know quite real and necessary physical and technical support You know to manage to help manage symptoms, but also as a reminder that
This is the process.
You also sort of behave as a grounding force.
Because sometimes when we're going through situations like this...
It doesn't feel real.
And time can pass, days can pass, and then all of a sudden those days that we lost feel all the more precious and awful because we just lost them because we were in a daze.
Whereas the presence of hospice staff, nurses, chaplains, in this... Calps people keep grounded, remain present, remember what's important so that we can find more of those moments like Matt was talking about
earlier.
Absolutely.
So, in addition to the grief support groups, like the one that happens every third Thursday of the month at Range Community Bible Church or these six-week groups that you guys do, there's also help with bereavement and there's support for palliative care for patients struggling with life-limiting illnesses who might not necessarily qualify for hospice care, bereavement support is support for the caregiver.
Correct.
Say the spouse or whoever is assigned as the bereaved for 13 months through mailings and phone calls.
So
yeah, it doesn't just end
when the life ends that your services continue on for at least another year.
That's incredibly wonderful.
That's special.
Yeah.
And we don't, I'm bragging, but we don't have to do that.
It's not required by hospice regulations, but regional hospice goes a step beyond and does that.
It's an incredible example because so often, especially after a prolonged illness, when the person passes, it's like there's definite feeling of done.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and often the grief doesn't really start for a long time because you just feel relieved that your loved one isn't in pain anymore You're not you know having all these responsibilities and then slowly it starts to seep in in the space that's there now Right this loss.
So
we have a bereavement caller that would call us like I said the spouse or the or the the one that's assigned as the brief and
just another set of ears to talk to.
Yeah, I'm really missing Charlie.
Yeah.
You know, his birthday was next week.
I don't know.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
I'm going to miss him a lot.
Well, and I would say come to grief support as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then palliative care for folks who don't necessarily qualify for hospice care, but they have life limiting illnesses.
And
they can still receive treatment.
and go on palliative care.
That's the biggest difference between palliative and hospice is they're still seeking treatment typically.
For palliative care will come in if there's some symptoms that need help managing.
We're there for it's a short period of time usually six months or less come in and help with that symptom management and kind of get things going a little bit smoother for them.
These these workshops I find to be exciting too.
There's presentations with your social workers that you have there.
They answer questions.
They offer resources.
You have advanced directives workshops, which it's so incredibly important that people understand not only what are advanced directives, but how can we fashion them and form them so that we're not leaving so many loose ends or even more troubles after we're gone here.
How often do you hold those workshops?
I know there's been two or three around this area already this year.
Also, you have Catch a Dream, which helps patients create positive memories, capture the joy in living with their family and friends.
Catch a Dreams are such a wonderful thing that we do if the patient wants it for the patient and the family to create some memories.
It's not about stuff.
It's about creating memories so
they
can feel normal for one more day.
And I'm not cancer.
I'm not ALS.
I'm Matt.
So it's typically something that they've always loved to do or always wanted to do, but never had a chance.
We had one woman that I've never been in a limousine.
So regional hospice rented a limo, picked her and her daughter up out of a tiara and limo driver drove her around and took her paid for lunch.
and then drove around for an hour or so.
That's incredible.
And
just a simple little moment, just a simple temporary gesture can provide so much relief.
And that's a very simple one, so to speak.
I've done some elaborate ones where people have been on a plane, a small aircraft that he used to be a pilot.
I've done some where they've gone to a baseball game.
The Minnesota Twins donated tickets, the hotel donated tickets.
I was scrambling trying to find money for regional hospice to give these people because the restaurants donated a free meal in Minneapolis.
Like I said, the hotel, the twins just really made memories for him, the patient, and their families.
That's the big key dream behind Catch a
Dream.
Incredible.
And how can people contribute to catch a dream or get involved?
I know that there was a volunteer training this past spring here in Ironwood.
Are those offered once a year?
Typically once
a year.
Okay.
If we get enough interest, we can do it twice a year for sure.
Okay.
And we can always use volunteers.
Always.
They're needed.
You don't necessarily have to be hands on with the patient.
We use volunteers for a lot of different.
things.
Yeah, what are some roles that volunteers can serve?
Some of our volunteers do check-ins, so they'll call and do like talk-ins for the weekend, make sure patients and families have everything they need.
Some of our volunteers do mailings, and then some of our volunteers will provide caregiver relief.
So they'll go into the homes, they can't do anything hands-on, but they'll sit with the patients and hang out, so to speak, while their caregiver gets a break.
Usually about one or two hours they're in there for a week, which is much needed when you're in this role caregiving 24-7.
You always need a break to prevent that burnout.
Yeah, so there's so many ways that people can get involved in these little ways.
They make a big difference.
And as
far as this radio signal reaches, we need volunteers because we drive all the way to Antonagon to Glidden just from this Ironwood site alone.
Yeah, we have a 50 mile radius around each of our offices.
So the Hayward, Spooner, Ashland and Ironwood each has their own 50 mile radius.
And I have found that the 50 mile radius around Ironwood is kind of deceptive.
There's like an extra 30 miles and 50 mile radius.
Especially if we get lost.
Well, I guess I mean, I thank you so much for coming in, guys.
And is there anything else you'd like to add before we get out of here today?
No, thank you for having us.
Yeah, thank you for having us.
All right.
Should I plug that?
Again, or are you going to?
I'll tag it.
Okay.
I'll tag it in the outro.
So I'll just say, well, Sammy and Matt, thank you for joining us here this morning.
I really appreciate you coming in and good luck out there.
Thank you.
Thank you.
My guests this morning were Sammy Zewick and Matt Agee with Regional Hospice Services and Palliative Care.
Regional Hospice is beginning a six-week support group on Tuesday, September 15 at Range Community Bible Church in Hurley from 10 a.m.
to 11.30 a.m.
Regional Hospice has ongoing regular support groups throughout their service area.
If you're interested in services from Regional Hospice or you wish to volunteer, you can find more information on their website, regionalhospice.org.
You can check out their Facebook page or call one of their four offices in the Western UP and Northern Wisconsin.
Again, their website is regionalhospice.org.
Thank you for joining us on In Our Range this morning.
My name is Mike, I'm wishing y'all a good weekend and we'll be back next Friday.
Stay tuned for In Our Range on the way next, brought to you by Westgate Nursing Rehabilitation and Assisted Living Center.
Good morning and welcome to In Our Range.
I'm your host, Mike LeBeau.
My guests this morning are Sammy Zewick and Matt Agee with Regional Hospice Services and Palliative Care.
Regional Hospice offers programs to support patients here on the range where they live.
Their care team supports the patient's individual wishes for physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs.
Regional Hospice has been serving our community since 1992 and stands by the belief that all who are eligible and wish to receive the services shall be provided end-of-life care regardless of their ability to pay.
They're offering a six-week grief support group in Hurley at Range Community Bible Church beginning on September 15th.
Matt Agee joins us.
He is a chaplain and provides spiritual support for families receiving services from Regional Hospice.
Sammy Zewick is the clinical care coordinator for Regional Hospice.
She's a registered nurse and has been with them for two years.
She grew up near Milwaukee, Wisconsin and graduated from UW Oshkosh with bachelors in nursing and psychology.
Good morning, Matt and Sammy.
Welcome to our range.
Good morning.
Thank
you.
Morning, Mike.
Regional Hospice has been serving our region for 34 years, providing hospice, palliative care and support for families here.
So I kind of want to ask you
A question about your profession because you're in one where when you probably tell people what you do for a living.
they probably go oh you can get very solemn and quiet and so it's special work and people who are drawn to this work I find tend to be pretty special people and so the first thing I want to ask you is and I'll start with you Sammy what's the biggest lesson you've learned from your time working in hospice?
I think the biggest lesson I've learned is that no two families in cases are the same even though they are all signing up for kind of the same idea you know end-of-life support
It never looks the same from patient to patient.
Everybody's a little bit different in how they go through this journey.
Yeah.
So here we have this one thing that we all have in common, but just like our fingerprints, it's entirely unique.
Absolutely.
Matt, what would you say has been probably the singular lesson that you take away from all your years of service here?
Oh
man.
Well, that was a pretty good one there, Sammy.
I think one thing that I've learned or working with people is
approach on life and that like you said we're all gonna get our turn to die well you can't escape it I had a gentleman a few years ago he said to me I've got two choices and I said what what what are your two choices he said to live or die and I said hmm well you're right all of our days are numbered I could die today
Feasibly, you are closer to death than I am.
He's on hospice.
He couldn't get out of bed, wasn't eating much.
And I said, you're right.
You could stop eating and die quicker.
That's a choice.
Or you could eat and, you know, try to still hang on and be crabby like you are.
Or I suggest a third option.
I said, there's two women in there in the kitchen, your wife and your daughter.
They love you very much.
make some memories today.
And if you wake up tomorrow, you get to do it again.
And I think that's how I, I have always appreciated my family, I think.
But now I just cherish the little things.
It really distills it down, doesn't it?
It brings everything to sort of a fine point when there's not much
else.
Who cares if the Christmas dinner is an hour late?
Who cares?
Let's play some more games.
Let's just sing another song or whatever.
Thank you for those responses.
I appreciate that.
I'm going to write those down for myself as a little reminder when I don't want to get out of bed tomorrow morning.
Yeah, regional hospice services.
You guys were one of the first interviews that I did for in our range here and so I appreciate.
you coming back and you've got some more things happening as always you know it's it's been almost a year I think since yeah I think so last talked and this grief support group is coming up there is also I mentioned a couple other things there is a volunteer training happening out in Spooner so if you're out that way and you're interested you might want to give regional hospice a call and see if got any more spots available for that but I want to ask you what does a grief support group look like
Okay,
grief support group.
What does it look like?
Well, you're going to have two facilitators.
You got the chaplain and you have the social worker at every site.
We have four sites, Hayward, Spooner, Ashland, and of course, Ironwood.
Each site has a chaplain and a social worker.
So those two people are there.
The grief support group, they are free to the whole community.
You don't have to have lost someone under our care.
Anyone is welcome.
And you don't have to pre-register.
It's confidential.
It's, like I said, free.
You can share as much as you want to share.
And if you feel like, OK, I've shared enough, you don't have to talk anymore.
Most of what I have seen and heard from people is they go into it thinking, I'm losing my mind because I'm having these feelings.
I'm going through this and they find out that it's perfectly normal.
And
everyone else in the group
has been feeling the same way.
And they talk to their loved ones picture or ashes or remains and it's normal.
Yeah, so this experience of loss, grief is a tremendously lonely feeling and
We can get so lost in it sometimes that we forget that we're actually having a normal response to a terrible situation.
Yes.
And
it affects you physically, spiritually, emotionally.
Your immune system could be down.
Why am I so tired lately?
Because you're grieving.
It's normal.
It's fine.
And just like the dying process that Sammy mentioned, everyone's grieving process and journey is different, too.
Two people could lose the same person, too.
Two brothers could lose their mother and they're going to grieve differently.
Yeah, I've seen that.
Oftentimes that can be the cause of a lot of conflicts and issues in the wake of death is people interpreting other people's grieving processes.
Yes.
As something that maybe they're not.
When it really is like like Sammy had mentioned, it just just like the way we die, the way we grieve is going to be unique to us and our relation to the person that we lost.
Right.
Exactly.
You could leave the group, Mike.
Thank you, man.
Yeah.
What's some of the feedback that you've gotten when these six week support group ends?
Generally, how do they describe how they feel support group has changed their perspective?
A big one that I hear is that they feel normal instead of crazy, losing my mind.
Now, oh, this is normal.
And we have our monthly grief support group.
And that meets every third Thursday of the month at range from 2 to 3.30.
And then in the spring and fall, we have our six week.
And that one starts on Tuesday the 15th.
And that's from 10 a.m.
to 11.30 at Range Community Bible Church in Hurley.
The thing with the six week is you get handouts.
and their articles and and excerpts from books and things like that talking about how to cope with the holidays coming up or birthdays and special days things like that and you get to take the handouts home and you it might be in the spring but
come Christmas, you're really dealing with missing your loved one.
You can look back on that handout.
Yeah.
So this isn't just a support group, but it's almost like a program that a person can work to develop their path forward as they're moving through their grief because these events like first holidays, second, third, fourth, fifth holidays, sometimes when you're with people, it seems to me that the key of this is really for a person to be kind and patient with themselves through this process.
Absolutely.
I can imagine that the grieving process probably begins before the person has died.
Yes, it does.
And so as Sammy Frius, someone who's working with these families and with these patients going through these processes, what does that often look like?
I mean, you know, these people are grieving the loss of so many things, not just the person who's losing different abilities, but the family is losing those abilities as well.
So it's different and it varies like we've talked about this whole time from person to person and it varies from patient to family member as well.
And it varies as you go through the stages.
There are five stages of grief, depression, anger, bargaining, acceptance, and denial.
And the patients and families will go through these stages as they're anticipating the grief of their loved one.
We often lean on both our chaplain and social work support to kind of help navigate the system as a nurse.
A lot of things that come up often are like symptoms.
They're grieving the way their body doesn't work anymore.
So in some of the symptoms that might be coming up, so pain, nausea,
What have you as a nurse my role is to step in and kind of help talk through you know These are normal things that you're going to be seeing during this process.
This is what this process looks like Along with then adding medication of the patient so chooses to kind of help with whatever symptoms are coming up
You're there for you know quite real and necessary physical and technical support You know to manage to help manage symptoms, but also as a reminder that
This is the process.
You also sort of behave as a grounding force.
Because sometimes when we're going through situations like this...
It doesn't feel real.
And time can pass, days can pass, and then all of a sudden those days that we lost feel all the more precious and awful because we just lost them because we were in a daze.
Whereas the presence of hospice staff, nurses, chaplains, in this... Calps people keep grounded, remain present, remember what's important so that we can find more of those moments like Matt was talking about
earlier.
Absolutely.
So, in addition to the grief support groups, like the one that happens every third Thursday of the month at Range Community Bible Church or these six-week groups that you guys do, there's also help with bereavement and there's support for palliative care for patients struggling with life-limiting illnesses who might not necessarily qualify for hospice care, bereavement support is support for the caregiver.
Correct.
Say the spouse or whoever is assigned as the bereaved for 13 months through mailings and phone calls.
So
yeah, it doesn't just end
when the life ends that your services continue on for at least another year.
That's incredibly wonderful.
That's special.
Yeah.
And we don't, I'm bragging, but we don't have to do that.
It's not required by hospice regulations, but regional hospice goes a step beyond and does that.
It's an incredible example because so often, especially after a prolonged illness, when the person passes, it's like there's definite feeling of done.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, and often the grief doesn't really start for a long time because you just feel relieved that your loved one isn't in pain anymore You're not you know having all these responsibilities and then slowly it starts to seep in in the space that's there now Right this loss.
So
we have a bereavement caller that would call us like I said the spouse or the or the the one that's assigned as the brief and
just another set of ears to talk to.
Yeah, I'm really missing Charlie.
Yeah.
You know, his birthday was next week.
I don't know.
I don't know what I'm going to do.
I'm going to miss him a lot.
Well, and I would say come to grief support as well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then palliative care for folks who don't necessarily qualify for hospice care, but they have life limiting illnesses.
And
they can still receive treatment.
and go on palliative care.
That's the biggest difference between palliative and hospice is they're still seeking treatment typically.
For palliative care will come in if there's some symptoms that need help managing.
We're there for it's a short period of time usually six months or less come in and help with that symptom management and kind of get things going a little bit smoother for them.
These these workshops I find to be exciting too.
There's presentations with your social workers that you have there.
They answer questions.
They offer resources.
You have advanced directives workshops, which it's so incredibly important that people understand not only what are advanced directives, but how can we fashion them and form them so that we're not leaving so many loose ends or even more troubles after we're gone here.
How often do you hold those workshops?
I know there's been two or three around this area already this year.
Also, you have Catch a Dream, which helps patients create positive memories, capture the joy in living with their family and friends.
Catch a Dreams are such a wonderful thing that we do if the patient wants it for the patient and the family to create some memories.
It's not about stuff.
It's about creating memories so
they
can feel normal for one more day.
And I'm not cancer.
I'm not ALS.
I'm Matt.
So it's typically something that they've always loved to do or always wanted to do, but never had a chance.
We had one woman that I've never been in a limousine.
So regional hospice rented a limo, picked her and her daughter up out of a tiara and limo driver drove her around and took her paid for lunch.
and then drove around for an hour or so.
That's incredible.
And
just a simple little moment, just a simple temporary gesture can provide so much relief.
And that's a very simple one, so to speak.
I've done some elaborate ones where people have been on a plane, a small aircraft that he used to be a pilot.
I've done some where they've gone to a baseball game.
The Minnesota Twins donated tickets, the hotel donated tickets.
I was scrambling trying to find money for regional hospice to give these people because the restaurants donated a free meal in Minneapolis.
Like I said, the hotel, the twins just really made memories for him, the patient, and their families.
That's the big key dream behind Catch a
Dream.
Incredible.
And how can people contribute to catch a dream or get involved?
I know that there was a volunteer training this past spring here in Ironwood.
Are those offered once a year?
Typically once
a year.
Okay.
If we get enough interest, we can do it twice a year for sure.
Okay.
And we can always use volunteers.
Always.
They're needed.
You don't necessarily have to be hands on with the patient.
We use volunteers for a lot of different.
things.
Yeah, what are some roles that volunteers can serve?
Some of our volunteers do check-ins, so they'll call and do like talk-ins for the weekend, make sure patients and families have everything they need.
Some of our volunteers do mailings, and then some of our volunteers will provide caregiver relief.
So they'll go into the homes, they can't do anything hands-on, but they'll sit with the patients and hang out, so to speak, while their caregiver gets a break.
Usually about one or two hours they're in there for a week, which is much needed when you're in this role caregiving 24-7.
You always need a break to prevent that burnout.
Yeah, so there's so many ways that people can get involved in these little ways.
They make a big difference.
And as
far as this radio signal reaches, we need volunteers because we drive all the way to Antonagon to Glidden just from this Ironwood site alone.
Yeah, we have a 50 mile radius around each of our offices.
So the Hayward, Spooner, Ashland and Ironwood each has their own 50 mile radius.
And I have found that the 50 mile radius around Ironwood is kind of deceptive.
There's like an extra 30 miles and 50 mile radius.
Especially if we get lost.
Well, I guess I mean, I thank you so much for coming in, guys.
And is there anything else you'd like to add before we get out of here today?
No, thank you for having us.
Yeah, thank you for having us.
All right.
Should I plug that?
Again, or are you going to?
I'll tag it.
Okay.
I'll tag it in the outro.
So I'll just say, well, Sammy and Matt, thank you for joining us here this morning.
I really appreciate you coming in and good luck out there.
Thank you.
Thank you.
My guests this morning were Sammy Zewick and Matt Agee with Regional Hospice Services and Palliative Care.
Regional Hospice is beginning a six-week support group on Tuesday, September 15 at Range Community Bible Church in Hurley from 10 a.m.
to 11.30 a.m.
Regional Hospice has ongoing regular support groups throughout their service area.
If you're interested in services from Regional Hospice or you wish to volunteer, you can find more information on their website, regionalhospice.org.
You can check out their Facebook page or call one of their four offices in the Western UP and Northern Wisconsin.
Again, their website is regionalhospice.org.
Thank you for joining us on In Our Range this morning.
My name is Mike, I'm wishing y'all a good weekend and we'll be back next Friday.