September 2017 Volume 5 • Issue 8
Chaplaincy serving Hispanic families through hospice care BY KRISTINA LORD editor@tcjournal.biz
Float Euphoria offers healing for all ages
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Fishing business expands to the land down under
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Kennewick senior’s donation raises $32,500 Page 9
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Saturday, Sept. 9 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Fiery Foods Festival Downtown Pasco fieryfoods.org
The hospice team members dispatched to assist Hispanic families caring for a dying loved one know they must use a different approach to earn their trust. The Chaplaincy Health Care team knows it’s best to seek out the patriarch of the family and use titles like “Señor” or “Señora” until given permission to use first names. They know they must honor the family’s desire to care for their relative at home, as well as their faith traditions. Providing more bilingual and bicultural hospice services has long been a goal of the Kennewick agency that provides hospice, palliative, grief and behavioral health care to the Tri-City community. Five years ago, the agency formed a Hispanic Outreach Team, which includes a bilingual and bicultural nurse, social worker, chaplain and nursing assistants, to better serve the area’s growing Hispanic community. The team knew it had a lot of work to do to earn the Hispanic community’s trust. Hospice is often seen as a place to “dump relatives to die by themselves, alone” in Mexico and South American countries, said Chaplain Victor Ortega, one of the team’s members. “Our purpose is to re-educate people that hospice here in the states is where we provide spiritual and physical and emotional care so patients can have quality of life while respecting and honoring their own beliefs and traditions,” he said. The group’s efforts are beginning to pay off. The agency has noted a 2.5 percent increase in serving the Hispanic population since it began focusing on outreach and education. uHOSPICE, Page 8
More than 500 people participated in last year’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s at Clover Island in Kennewick. This year’s event, which is Saturday, Sept. 9, has moved to Columbia Park to accommodate the growing number of walkers. (Courtesy Leslie Woodfill of Alzheimer’s Association)
Hundreds to participate in Walk to End Alzheimer’s BY KRISTINA LORD editor@tcjournal.biz
The Poland family is passionate about raising awareness and supporting efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. They also can be counted on to participate in two of the year’s biggest TriCity fundraisers for the state’s Alzheimer’s Association. It’s personal for them. The progressive disease took the life of the Poland family matriarch, Valerie Poland, in 2009. That’s the year Walk to End Alzheimer’s began in Kennewick. Poland died at age 59, nine years after
she was diagnosed. Her mother also had the disease. Poland participated for years in the Spokane walk. She died four months before the first Tri-Cities walk, which was dedicated to her. Her family was instrumental in organizing that first walk closer to home. Her daughter Melissa Poland-Knapik said her mom would appreciate the family’s continued efforts to raise awareness. “She’d say keep fighting. This disease takes away their voice. If we can help one person. That’s our Poland family mission. That’s what we want to try to do,” Poland-Knapik said. uALZHEIMER’S, Page 2
Vegas-themed show aims to get seniors singing, dancing at annual picnic BY KRISTINA LORD editor@tcjournal.biz
Seniors attending this year’s All Senior Picnic in Richland can expect to sing and sway along to popular songs from Bobby Darin, Wayne Newton, Frank Sinatra and Elvis. “It’ll be danceable and enjoyable and memorable — whatever makes the crowd happy,” said David Cooley, front man for the Cooley Band, which will be performing at the annual event. The Vegas-themed picnic is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21 at Howard Amon Park, behind the Richland Community Center at 500 Amon Park Drive.
Each year Kennewick, Richland and Pasco take turns hosting the event. Last year it was in Pasco. The Cooley Band, based in Vancouver, Washington, performed at more than 350 shows last year. About 300 of those shows were at senior living residences. Cooley said performing for seniors is important to him because his mother lives in a nursing home in Battle Ground, Washington. He performs there six to eight times a year. “I’ve been hanging around in these kinds of places because of her and I started playing music and I started realizing how glorious it is and how much these people appreciated it. uPICNIC, Page 14
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