Bluegrass Care Navigators News

April 16th marks Healthcare Decisions Day, a day dedicated to promoting advance care planning (ACP), ensuring individuals' medical preferences are honored, even when they can't communicate them. Diagnosed with chronic kidney disease at 35, Ashley Holt had to learn to navigate and accept her new reality, as well as prepare for life after now. Through her journey and current role at Bluegrass Care Navigators (BCN), she intertwines personal experience with advocacy for ACP, particularly within communities of color and support groups, highlighting the importance of planning for life beyond the present.

I always take a deep breath when I get a visit request for a patient who is an artist. Sometimes it is difficult to bridge the gap between art making and art therapy, and not every artist at the end of life needs or benefits from art therapy. Sometimes the ability to make art is one of the losses being grieved by a patient and arriving with simple supplies such as oil pastels and colored pencils feels like an insult when the home is filled with stunning oil paintings or drawings. Often, it feels like a caregiver is hoping I can help them reclaim something lost to illness and decline.

Ronnie Stinnett, a patient at Bluegrass Care Navigators (BCN), discovered a unique way to find a new purpose through the transformative power of art therapy.

Holidays can be a hard time for hospice families, especially if their loved one suffers from dementia and has difficulty communicating in the way they used to. Recently, I had the opportunity to work with a patient who has end-stage dementia. When I arrived at the facility where she lives, I happened to run into the patient and her family out in the hallway.

Valentine's Day is just another 'special day' grieving spouses may dread. It can be especially difficult for the recently widowed. The potential load of emotional pain, such as loneliness, sadness, and isolation may depend upon whether Valentine's Day had special meaning for you as a couple. Grief can be intensified by triggers or flashbacks of special memories. Loss of identity and self-confidence can further promote a perception of awkwardness, especially in a world pushing a couple mindset. This is only heightened by media and stores advertising the upcoming special day.

Recently, Bluegrass Care Navigators (BCN) massage therapist, Sarah Steele, had the opportunity to provide massage to a patient, relieving her stress and giving joy. In the article below, she shares how this intervention helped her patient, who lived at a memory care center with her husband, find hope.

In the hushed hallways of a hospice center, Bluegrass Care Navigators (BCN) massage therapists introduced a transformative form of care - comforting touch for the hands. A seemingly simple concept, it evolved into a profound tool, touching lives when they were most vulnerable.

In the realm of hospice care, there are often hidden heroes – family members who, in the shadow of a loved one's illness, carry the weight of caregiving. The story of Mark and his mother Anne epitomizes the love and dedication that often go unnoticed. Anne had reached the final stage of her battle with vascular dementia, a journey fraught with pain and confusion. The move to Bluegrass Care Navigators (BCN) for hospice care was a challenging transition.

In the final chapters of her life, an elderly patient named Margaret embarked on an unexpected and heartwarming journey as part of her care with Bluegrass Care Navigators (BCN).