Rick Patrick
rick@greenepublishing.com
On Friday, Feb. 19, staff members and volunteers from Big Bend Hospice (BBH) gathered at Norris Cafe to present the "Heart of Hospice" award to a pair of local hospice volunteers. Tim Sanders and Suzanne Truesdale were recognized for their volunteer work with the organization that provides care to patients facing terminal illness and their families. Sanders serves as a member of the BBH Board of Directors and Truesdale volunteers as a patient family volunteer for BBH.
"Suzanne does not just sit idly with her patients and their families and wait for their illness to progress," said Katie Mandell, Volunteer Department Manager with BBH. "She encourages them to do the things they love and are still capable of doing. One family loved gardening while the patient watched Suzanne garden with the caregiver. She has even had a patient that likes to play Nerfblaster with her. She is like family to her patients and their families. She goes over and beyond by not just watching their last days go by, but by helping them live out those last days to the fullest."
"Tim has served on many boards and one that I'm particularly fond of is the Big Bend Hospice Board of Directors," said Mandell. "If my research [is] correct, Tim joined the board somewhere around 2006 or 2007 and he has been instrumental in guiding our great organization by inspiring hope by positively impacting the way our community experiences serious illness or grief – one family at a time."
Big Bend Hospice salutes local volunteers