|
||
by
John Siebenthaler (PINELLAS PARK, FL) Yesterday (March 27) being Easter, I thought I’d reflect on the spirit of the occasion by visiting the Woodside Residence, operated by Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, the largest hospice in North America. Woodside is a few miles, maybe five, from the house. This day, the weather was already hot and humid. The crowds were relatively sparse because of the hour. Because the street is now closed to public traffic, I parked in a bank parking lot perhaps a quarter mile away. With a 70-bed capacity, residents are normally sequestered in a quiet, pine and live oak studded woods for the final moments of life. The majority of the clients are very much cognizant of their surroundings. Woodside was built about nine years ago to extend the care Hospice provides to it’s clients, and to provide a dignified, calm setting for patients and their families.As the Schiavo case has been politicized by headline hogging politicians and opportunists of every stripe, the normally quiet two-lane road has been turned into a parking lot for the media circus, there to document in an orgy of excess the activities of those who claim to speak of "Terri" on a personal basis. Meanwhile, life, and death, go on. Residents pass, though not, because of the media and those who relish it’s spotlight, in the environment Hospice intended when Woodside was built. |
It’s been my pleasure to have contributed financially and creatively to this particular hospice. The
value of their work is immeasurable. Unfortunately, there’s very little
value from the tabloid perspective in reporting the dignified work of hospice. production notes: ©mmv john siebenthaler |
|