AMOREM

Scott Mise with Looper Construction and Kerri McFalls, AMOREM VP of Community Engagement AMOREM: More Quality. More Compassion. More Support.

By Pan McCaslin

Providing thoughtful, loving and quality care for patients facing end-oflife and support for the patients’ families is the mission of AMOREM, whose High Country team serves patients in Ashe, Avery and Watauga counties.

Formerly Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care and Burke Hospice and Palliative Care, a May 1, 2021, integration created AMOREM. The organization’s vision is to transform the way people view and experience serious illness and end of life and to foster a culture of compassionate, respectful and innovative care. Following a lengthy evaluation of ways to best serve patients in Burke, Caldwell and the High Country counties, the boards of both organizations agreed their mission and values were similar; in fact, for many years, the two organizations had worked collaboratively to provide care for patients and their families.

“The intent behind the integration is to retain the integrity and vision of our community-owned hospice organizations,” says Cathy Swanson, CEO of AMOREM. “The vision for the collaborative partnership is to integrate two like-minded providers to have a greater impact on serious illness and end-of-life care in the communities served.”

“The AMOREM logo was inspired by the Flower of Life symbol for creation and connectedness, representing both the secular and the sacred as a bridge of the spirit and the body,” shares Swanson, who previously served for more than 30 years as the CEO of Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care. “AMOREM—which is Latin for the act of love—is committed to provide compassionate, quality end-of-life services to those who seek the support and care.”

A non-profit organization that addresses the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of terminally ill patients and those they love, AMOREM provides each patient an individual assessment of needs and services. An interdisciplinary team of staff and volunteers help support the patients and their families to assist patients to live as comfortably as possible. Team members include medical providers, nursing, social work and chaplain staff, as well as volunteers, grief support and 24-hour on-call staff members.

AMOREM offers both hospice and non-hospice palliative medicine services. Palliative medicine addresses a patient’s serious illness, at any stage in the illness, and provides an extra layer of medical support in the community and in the patient’s home. “Our goal in Palliative care medicine is to minimize or eliminate repeated hospitalizations and to provide symptom management, which will improve and optimize quality of life,” says Palliative care nurse practitioner, Donna Tate. Hospice care is provided when a patient’s life expectancy is six months or fewer if medical conditions follow a normal course. Lisa Caviness, public relations coordinator for AMOREM, shares, “Research has proven that hospice care relieves anxiety and helps support symptom management, pain management, and overall quality of life.”

All care recommended for a patient is coordinated with the patient’s physician. Care can be provided at a patient’s home, a long-term care facility or one of AMOREM’s patient care units, currently in Lenoir, Hudson and Valdese, with a facility in design for the High Country area, to include Ashe, Avery and Watauga Counties. “We are excited for the opportunity to continue to grow and to serve the communities in our area,” says Tate.

“Because we are a non-profit organization, we are able to offer enhanced services for our patients which include Advanced Cardiac Care program, pulmonary care resources, dementia care resources, Veteran resources, therapies such as massage, aromatherapy and pet visitors as well as ongoing grief support groups and Advanced Care Planning,” Caviness explains. “Some of these services are not reimbursable under Medicare but are provided if the patient’s care team believes the services will improve the patient’s quality of life.”

Caviness talked at length about the Legacy Project offered to any patient who would like to document their life story or to share a legacy with their families. “We have volunteers video record patients telling their life histories, taping messages to their children, or even reading bedtime stories to children or grandchildren.” The stories are then edited and the patient and family receive the Legacy story on a DVD. The expanded use of technology has even allowed end-of-life patients to experience a wish for travel by the use of virtual reality goggles.

Residents of Ashe, Avery and Watauga counties have been served by Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care since 2014. The name change, new colors and a future change of workstation for the High Country team are the only noticeable changes since the AMOREM merger in May. “The staff is still the same. Our High Country team is made up of local medical providers, nurses, nursing assistants, social workers, chaplains and volunteers. We all live and work in the High Country area. We are neighbors taking care of neighbors,” says Tate.

The High Country Advisory Council, comprised of area residents, addresses