Compass Regional Hospice will host a fundraiser for Camp New Dawn from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday, June 28, at Fisherman’s Crab Deck in Grasonville.

Camp New Dawn, an annual grief retreat summer camp offered through Compass Regional Hospice is accepting registration for its 24^th season.Camp New Dawn is a four-day, three-night retreat held each summer at Camp Pecometh in Centreville. The retreat is designed to meet the needs of all ages and stages of grief, serving children and teens between the ages of 4 and 17,as well as their families.

The fundraiser will include a buffet dinner with crab dip, meatballs, chicken salad, rolls, pasta salad, potato salad and dessert. There also will be a silent auction and 50/50 raffles. Silent auction items will include jewelry, gift certificates, artwork and more. Music will be provided by The Ginger Cats.

The cost of the fundraising event is $30 per person in advance and $35 per person at the door. The fee includes all food and entertainment. Children under 14 are free.

For more information and tickets to the June 28 event, contact Kenda Leager, development officer, Compass Regional Hospice, at 443-262-4106 or kleager@compassregionalhospice.org.

Camp New Dawn Director Rhonda Knotts said the retreat helps participants learn healthy ways to express their grief.

“Under the guidance of professional grief support staff and specially trained volunteers, participants are taught healthy ways to express their grief in a safe, supportive and fun environment while also getting to know others who are on a similar journey,” Knotts said.

This year’s Camp New Dawn kicks off at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug.18.Campers ages 7 to 17 attend therapeutic workshops, age-specific grief support groups and may participate in supervised camp activities, such as swimming, fishing, and arts and crafts. A mini retreat for children ages 4 to 6 will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, Aug.20.The retreat for campers wraps up after the closing ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 20.

Camp New Dawn also includes an overnight adult and family retreat that begins at 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 19.While their campers are busy learning how to cope with their grief, parents and guardians are invited to attend the adult retreat designed to help restore participants to a place of wholeness as they learn to navigate their own grief journey.  Activities include grief support groups, therapeutic workshops and restorative activities, such as sunrise yoga and nature walks. The adults then are joined by their children for overnight family camp, where they come together to learn skills they can take home with them. Family camp ends Tuesday, Aug. 21, after the closing ceremony at 7p.m.

Camp New Dawn would not be possible without the support of Compass Regional Hospice’s specially trained volunteers. More than 100 volunteers help to make sure the weekend is fun and full of friendship and learning. The most visible volunteers are “Buddies” — caring and compassionate adults who are paired up with campers to provide support. There also are support staff volunteers who tend to every detail of camp by helping plan, set up and facilitate activities. Former campers, “PALS” and “Campatiers,” can be found helping in a variety of ways around camp,as well as sharing their own personal camp experiences with new campers.

The cost of Camp New Dawn is $30 per camper and $75 per family. These fees represent a small fraction of the actual cost of operating Camp New Dawn, and no one is ever turned away because of an inability to pay. Compass Regional Hospice relies on community donations, grants and fundraising events to cover expenses so that anyone who needs to attend may participate in Camp New Dawn. To offer your financial support toward the cost of camp or to sponsor a child to attend, contact Leager at 443-262-4106 orkleager@compassregionalhospice.org.

For more information or to register for Camp New Dawn, contact Knotts at 443-262-4109 or rknotts@compassregionalhospice.org. To become a volunteer, contact Courtney Williams, assistant Camp New Dawn director, at 443-262-4112 orcwilliams@compassregionalhospice.org.

Compass Regional Hospice – Care on your terms

Compass Regional Hospice is a fully licensed, independent, community-based nonprofit organization certified by Medicare and the state of Maryland and accredited by the Joint Commission. Since 1985, Compass Regional Hospice has been dedicated to supporting people of all ages through the challenge of living with a life-limiting illness and learning to live following the death of a loved one. Today, the organization is a regional provider of hospice care and grief support in Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline counties. “Care on your terms” is the promise that guides staff and volunteers as they care for patients in private residences, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and the residential hospice centers in Centreville, Chestertown and Denton. Grief support services are offered to children, adults and families of patients who died under hospice care, as well as members of the community who are grieving the loss of a loved one, through The Hope & Healing Center. For more information about Compass Regional Hospice, visit compassregionalhospice.org.

Compass Regional Hospice and Grief Support Programs, serving Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline counties, hosted its “Celebrating Champion Legislators and Corporate Leadership Breakfast and Briefing” on Thursday, May 10, at Annie’s Paramount Steak and Seafood House in Grasonville. This was the organization’s first official briefing of its elected officials, business leaders and community guests from the three Mid-Shore counties it serves.

Sen. Stephen Hershey, R-36-Upper Shore; Del. Jeff Ghrist, R-36-Caroline; Del. Steve Arentz, R-36-Queen Anne’s; Del. Jay Jacobs, R-36-Kent; and Queen Anne’s County Commissioners Jim Moran and Jack Wilson attended the breakfast, where Compass Regional Hospice staff and members of its board of directors had the chance to say ‘thank you’ for a job well done during the legislative session this past winter, and for helping the organization to secure state funding, additional funds from the governor’s capital budget and Queen Anne’s County funding.

After a welcome from Compass Regional Hospice Board Chairman Tom Helfenbein, Heather Guerieri, executive director, Compass Regional Hospice; and president of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, briefed guests on “The Changing Landscape of Hospice and Palliative Care,” including its impact on health care costs to businesses and their employees.

“We are celebrating some historic milestones for our organization, that have been made possible thanks to the extraordinary support of our special guests and District 36 champions,” Guerieri said. “We’ve been providing hospice care in the region for 33 years, and many of you are partners and supporters of our work.”

Guerieri said the landscape of hospice care has been evolving in the past 10 years.

“Hospice is not a ‘place,’ and should not be referred to as a ‘death sentence,’” Guerieri said. “It’s a very caring and successful model of comfort care that can begin at the onset of a life-limiting diagnosis and continue through to a patient’s final days and moments of life. The spectrum of care reaches the patient, their loved ones and a patient’s caregivers.”

She said care can take place “in the comfort of one’s home, in an assisted living or nursing home environment, or in the more supervised patient care setting of a hospice facility,” like the ones Compass
Regional Hospice operates in Centreville, Chestertown and Denton.

Those providing care range from certified nursing assistants and registered nurse practitioners, to social workers, grief counselors and a wide range of volunteers, including those specific to veterans’ needs and those who are referred to as “vigil volunteers”—a volunteer who is present during the last days of a patient’s life.

Compass Regional Hospice takes care of infants and children, as well as adults in need of its programs, and patients are never turned away based on an inability to pay for services. Because of this, Guerieri said there is a $1.4 million funding gap between what the organization receives in service payments and the actual cost of care provided.

“Our daily census — the number of patients we are serving daily — is close to 100, and will continue to grow, especially as the elderly community grows, with more retirees moving to the Eastern Shore,” Guerieri said.

She said the organization is in the middle of its capital campaign, “Our Journey, Together,” and part of the $5 million campaign includes critical renovations and an expansion for the Compass Regional Hospice – Hospice Center in Centreville. The expansion will grow the facility from a six-bed facility to a 10-bed facility.

In addition to hospice patient care, Compass Regional Hospice also runs grief support programs.

“One of the most critical programs we run in order to serve the community is our grief support programs,” said Kathy Deoudes, emeritus board chairman.

Rhonda Knotts, director of grief services at Compass Regional Hospice, said loss is not solely about death, but about any type of loss, including those pertaining to relationships, independence, traumatic experiences and financial stability.

“About 15 percent of those who are grieving are also struggling with a mental health diagnosis. This can make their symptoms of grief much more severe,” Knotts said. “Through our grief support programs, we strive every day to normalize the feelings of those who are grieving and help them get on the path to a healthier healing.”

In addition to specialized support groups, Compass Regional Hospice also offers one-on-one sessions and healing workshops, all at no cost to those who need them.

Hershey and Ghrist gave a “shout out” to Gov. Larry Hogan for making funding for hospice care a priority during the legislative session, and Jacobs said he supported Compass Regional Hospice’s comfort of those who are grieving and dying. Arentz said hospice care on the Eastern Shore is a priority.

“It’s easy to get behind a need, and this is a need,” he said.

To learn more about Compass Regional Hospice, how you can donate or for volunteer opportunities, call 443-262-4100 or visit compassregionalhospice.org.

Compass Regional Hospice – Care on your terms

Compass Regional Hospice is a fully licensed, independent, community-based nonprofit organization certified by Medicare and the state of Maryland and accredited by the Joint Commission. Since 1985, Compass Regional Hospice has been dedicated to supporting people of all ages through the challenge of living with a life-limiting illness and learning to live following the death of a loved one. Today, the organization is a regional provider of hospice care and grief support in Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline counties. “Care on your terms” is the promise that guides staff and volunteers as they care for patients in private residences, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and the residential hospice centers in Centreville, Chestertown and Denton. Grief support services are offered to children, adults and families of patients who died under hospice care, as well as members of the community who are grieving the loss of a loved one, through The Hope & Healing Center. For more information about Compass Regional Hospice, visit compassregionalhospice.org.

Alvin Abend of Chestertown, a retired sergeant with the United States Air Force, recently was honored during a Veterans Recognition Ceremony at Compass Regional Hospice.

Compass Regional Hospice is a national partner of “We Honor Veterans,” a campaign developed by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Alvin Abend

Compass Regional Hospice honors all hospice patients who have served in the military with a special ceremony. Each honoree is presented with a pin, framed certificate, tabletop flag and a patriotic lap quilt made by volunteers. For veterans admitted to the hospice center, an American flag and the flag of the veteran’s branch of the service are posted on either side of the door to the patient’s room.

Trained staff and volunteers provide veterans and their families with local resources surrounding veteran end-of-life experiences, benefits and other ongoing projects to recognize the dedication of these heroes.

“Many of our veterans were not appropriately thanked for their service and dedication to our country, regardless of their level of involvement,” said Courtney Williams, manager of volunteer and professional services with Compass Regional Hospice. “Even if it is the first time they have heard someone say ‘thank you,’ it is important to everyone in our organization that we take the time to honor their service.”

Compass Regional Hospice enrolled in the program in 2012. In 2017, Compass Regional Hospice was awarded the “We Honor Veterans” partner level four distinction—the highest level an organization can reach. To achieve this distinction, a hospice center must provide ongoing veteran-centric education for staff and volunteers, build organizational capacity to provide quality care for veterans, and develop and strengthen relationships with VA medical centers and other veteran organizations.

“Our vets are a special population of our patients that require specialized care due to the experiences they have had in the military,” Williams said. “Through this program, we have reached level four by continuing to improve the care we provide to veterans and partnering with our community to ensure they receive the care they deserve.”

Through the “We Honor Veterans” program, Compass Regional Hospice gratefully acknowledges its military and service men, women and families. The mission of the program is to serve the nation’s veterans, who have served their country so selflessly, during their end-of-life journey.

As a veteran-centric organization, Compass Regional Hospice also provides a Vet-to-Vet program, which aims to pair veteran volunteers with veteran hospice patients. These hospice-trained volunteers, with personal military experience, have the unique ability to relate and connect with veteran patients and their families.

“Having volunteers with personal experience in the armed forces helps them to relate on a different level with our veteran patients. We are lucky to offer Vet-to-Vet volunteers to the patients we serve, so they have the opportunity of camaraderie,” Williams said.

Abend joined the Air Force in January 1964, eventually serving as a helicopter mechanic during the Vietnam War. Already a member of the U.S. Armed Forces stationed in Texas, he recalled the day he went to volunteer to serve in Vietnam.

“We went to go volunteer (for Vietnam), and the guy said, ‘What’s your name?’ And I told him. (The officer said,) ‘You don’t have to volunteer. Your number’s up,” Abend recalled, saying his number was about to be called because of the draft, which was being employed by the federal government of the United States at the time to fill vacancies that were not able to be filled by voluntary means.

Once overseas, Abend was stationed in Udorn, Thailand, and was part of helicopter rescue missions for stranded U.S. troops along the Ho Chi Minh trail, a logistical system of mountain and jungle paths that ran through the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Republic of Vietnam, as well as through Laos and Cambodia. The trail was controlled by North Vietnam, and the Viet Cong used the trail to infiltrate troops and supplies on their way to South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

“If they were blowing up the trail and (U.S. troops) got hurt, then we would try to get (our men out),” Abend said. “The idea was to get them out, and (we) were quite successful, actually.”

Abend’s four-year service ended December 1967, and he returned home to Maryland, where he worked as a firefighter and ambulance driver for the City of Bowie. He also has worked in construction and drove tractor-trailers, hauling gasoline.

Originally from Gambrills, after leaving Bowie, Abend moved to Kent County with his wife, Margaret Founds.

“Our involvement in the ‘We Honor Veterans’ program has been so meaningful. We have been told by our veteran patients and their families many times that we are the first people that have ever recognized their service and honored them,” said Heather Guerieri, executive director, Compass Regional Hospice.“The recognition ceremony is very touching— to be able to honor our veteran patients before they die, and to give them the recognition they deserve.”

To learn more about the “We Honor Veterans” program with Compass Regional Hospice or to volunteer with the Vet-to-Vet program through the organization, contact Williams at 443-262-4112 orcwilliams@compassregionalhospice.org, or visit compassregionalhospice.org/volunteers.

Compass Regional Hospice – Care on your terms

Compass Regional Hospice is a fully licensed, independent, community-based nonprofit organization certified by Medicare and the state of Maryland and accredited by the Joint Commission. Since 1985, Compass Regional Hospice has been dedicated to supporting people of all ages through the challenge of living with a life-limiting illness and learning to live following the death of a loved one. Today, the organization is a regional provider of hospice care and grief support in Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline counties. “Care on your terms” is the promise that guides staff and volunteers as they care for patients in private residences, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and the residential hospice centers in Centreville, Chestertown and Denton.Grief support services are offered to children, adults and families of patients who died under hospice care, as well as members of the community who are grieving the loss of a loved one through The Hope and Healing Center. For more information about Compass Regional Hospice, visit compassregionalhospice.org.

Compass Regional Hospice’s Grief and Support Services staff have been invited to be present during the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall’s stay in Easton, which will take place from Thursday, May 31, to Wednesday, June 6.

Compass Regional Hospice’s trained grief counselors, as well as a social worker and a chaplain, will be on hand to provide counseling services to those who seek them, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.Monday, June 4, through Wednesday, June 6.

Grief Services staff will include Rhonda Knotts, grief counselor and supervisor of Grief Services with Compass Regional Hospice, who is certified in level-two advanced trauma treatment through The Ferentz Institute; Wayne Larrimore, a grief counselor with Compass Regional Hospice, who served with the U.S. Air Force for 21 years; Ann OConnor, a grief counselor with Compass Regional Hospice; social worker Sharon Loving; and Compass chaplain Nancy Greenwell.

From left, clockwise: Rhonda Knotts, grief counselor and supervisor of Grief Services; Linda Turner, grief counselor; Wayne Larrimore, grief counselor and Air Force veteran; and Ann OConnor, grief counselor.

“Ultimately, what our counselors can offer, is a compassionate ear,” Knotts said. “We are definitely not there to think that we can fix anything or to erase what has already been seen and felt, but just to be a source of comfort while you visit, remember, and in many instances, take a trip back. We’re going in because we owe it to our veterans for what they have done for us— to be there and walk with them when they need us to.”

Jackie Davis, executive director of the Mental Health Association of the Eastern Shore, said the planning committee bringing the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall to Easton is anticipating thousands of visitors. She said because of the strong and often still raw emotional reactions the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C., can evoke, she knew there might be times where visitors to the traveling wall may need someone to talk with. She said the most important criteria was that those people be trained to provide that listening ear. The MHAMDES is coordinating the efforts to bring that trained staff to the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall during its visit in Easton.

“It adds another level of support,” Davis said. “I just want to emphasize how thankful we are to Compass Regional Hospice, whose staff are taking up almost half of the hours (of the counseling needs). We didn’t know what to expect (when planning the event), but we’d rather be over-prepared than under-prepared.”

Social worker Sharon Loving, and Compass Regional Hospice chaplain Nancy Greenwell.

Davis said Compass Regional Hospice is one of the only Mid-Shore nonprofit agencies to provide trained grief counseling services during the event. Other agencies providing counseling services include the Salisbury Outstation of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which will be providing its mobile crisis van that includes counseling rooms, a full-time counselor and several support staff, which will be available 24/7; Eastern Shore Mobile Crisis Services, which will provide overnight on-call services; Maryland Responds Medical Reserve Corps; and several trained individual counselors who have volunteered their time.

According to a news release from E.E. Streets Memorial Post 5118, the mission of the Vietnam Traveling Wall is to honor United States service men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War, by bringing a 3/5 replica of the original monument in Washington, D.C., to VFW Post 5118, 355 Glebe Road, Easton.

“This is so that the family and friends of those memorialized on the Wall, along with everyone on the Eastern Shore, can experience the overwhelming impact of this memorial,” the news release stated. “The event is a solemn presentation of the Vietnam Wall Memorial, and as such will have an air of reverence, honor, and respect.”

Counselors from all agencies involved will be present in shifts, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., June 1 through 5.

The Wall will be open 24-hours a day, daily, during its time in Easton. The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall stands as a reminder of the more than nine million military personnel who served on active duty during the Vietnam Era, the 2,709,918 Americans who served in Vietnam and especially those who gave the ultimate sacrifice— those who lost their lives serving the United States during the war.

There are 58,315 names on the Wall. Of those names, 208 listed their hometowns as being on the Delmarva Peninsula. Of the 2,709,918 Americans who served in Vietnam, less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today.

Throughout the Wall’s stay in Easton, volunteers will read the 58, 315 names aloud. The wall will be escorted into Easton via motorcycle motorcade on May 31. Opening ceremonies will begin at 6 p.m. June 1. A schedule of events can be found on Facebook at “Vietnam Traveling Wall Easton Maryland.” During the Wall’s time in Easton, each Mid-Shore county will be represented during special recognition ceremonies to honor those service men and women who lost their lives.

For more information about grief services provided by Compass Regional Hospice, call 443-262-4100. For more information about counseling services provided at the Wall, call Jackie Davis at the Mental Health Association of the Eastern Shore at 410-822-0444 or email her at jdavis@mhamdes.org.

For more information about the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall’s stay in Easton, contact VFW 5118 board members Kenley Timms at kenleyt@goeaston.net, Royce Ball at royceball@mac.com or Gene Feher at genejfeher@gmail.com.

Compass Regional Hospice – Care on your terms

Compass Regional Hospice is a fully licensed, independent, community-based nonprofit organization certified by Medicare and the state of Maryland and accredited by the Joint Commission. Since 1985, Compass Regional Hospice has been dedicated to supporting people of all ages through the challenge of living with a life-limiting illness and learning to live following the death of a loved one. Today, the organization is a regional provider of hospice care and grief support in Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline counties. “Care on your terms” is the promise that guides staff and volunteers as they care for patients in private residences, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and the residential hospice centers in Centreville, Chestertown and Denton. Grief support services are offered to children, adults and families of patients who died under hospice care, as well as members of the community who are grieving the loss of a loved one, through The Hope and Healing Center. For more information about Compass Regional Hospice, visit compassregionalhospice.org.