The 16th annual Light Up A Life celebration honoring Hospice patients and their families will be held on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. at the Linn County Fair and Expo Center in Albany. The event is in conjunction with National Hospice Month.
Last year, more than 200 local citizens joined Samaritan Evergreen Hospice in paying tribute to loved ones — living and deceased — during the “Reading of the Names” ceremony, where Evergreen Hospice staff and volunteers read the names aloud. This year, the event has been moved from a retail setting to a more private location at the Expo Center.
The ceremony will feature Barb Hansen, RN and administrator of Samaritan Evergreen Hospice; Samaritan Health Services chaplains Debra Vanover, Capi Alexander and Virginia Brown; Cathye McCracken, MSW Samaritan Health Services; and music by the Good Shepherd Lutheran Bell Choir, Tiah Swanson and Kathy Morris.
The event is part of a two month-long campaign to raise funds for the care and treatment of Samaritan Evergreen Hospice patients throughout the community.
“The Light Up A Life event is a tremendous opportunity for the community to not only honor hospice patients and their families, but to also honor or remember their own loved ones either living or dead,” said Hansen. “Each year, I purchase a light to remember my mother and grandparents, none of whom had the opportunity to be served by Hospice.
We use this event to help raise funds that will allow us to continue to make a significant difference in the lives of the people we serve.”
The ceremony also helps to draw attention to the compassionate work of Samaritan Evergreen Hospice, which serves terminally ill patients throughout Linn County and parts of Benton, Marion and Polk counties. In addition, money raised is used for medications and services not generally covered under insurance plans as well as for personal items or equipment that might improve the quality of a personís life.
Through its staff of nurses, therapists, counselors and community volunteers, Hospice allows patients to live in their own homes with as little pain and as much comfort as possible during the final days of their lives. Hospice services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In 2002, Samaritan Evergreen Hospice served 209 patients and their families; more than 300 patients in 2003, and the number will reach more than 500 this year.
The Light Up A Life campaign runs Oct. 1 through the end of December and is coordinated through the Lebanon Community Hospital and Albany General Hospital Foundations, which are 501(c)(3) charitable, non-profit organizations. To have a name read, the foundations ask for a donation in memory/honor of an individual; $25 is suggested, and the letter of thanks from the foundation includes a holiday tree ornament to remind families of their loved one throughout the rest of the season. All gifts to the foundations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law. If you would like to contribute to “Life Up A Life,” call the Lebanon Community Hospital Foundation office at 451-7063 or the Albany General Hospital Foundation office at 812-4704.
Samaritan Evergreen Hospice is Medicare certified and JCAHO Accredited, and is a member of the Oregon Hospice Association. Samaritan Evergreen Hospice has been serving the mid Willamette Valley since 1984. They can be reached at (800) 442-1428.