Today Was Spectacular

Today was spectacular. I mean truly spectacular. I am so proud of the team with me. Susan and Terri are doing a wonderful job sharing their many gifts of self with Hospice Wits staff.  It's going to be hard to put into words to describe how I feel about today. I know there will be more to share once I've had a chance to be still and think.  For now I'll tell you about our day. It's almost 5:30 pm in Jo-burg.

This morning we spent 4 hours with the management team. All 6 of their leaders committed to giving up half a day (on a Friday) to be with us.  We started with an activity led by Terri. We all completed an autobiographical poem about ourselves and then shared them with each other. I then led a discussion about leadership which culminated with each of the managers and CEO completed two different leadership questionnaires. Given the amount of trust in the room, the Hospice Wits staff began sharing some feelings regarding their own leadership strengths and leadership behaviors they'd like their colleagues to help them with.  Terri then ended our time together by facilitating a very heartwarming activity.  She will blog about this herself so I won't say more.  Just one hint... It involves each manager being 'pinned' by us. The pins are jigsaw puzzle pieces. We repeated this activity in the afternoon with all the staff on the Jo-burg campus and we'll repeat this activity in Soweto.  By the time we leave every paid employee will have a pin. I'm sending a few pictures for you to see.

After all the staff left Susan, Terri, and I stayed in the room to process the day and the week. We cried, laughed, and expressed gratitude to each other, our families, and you. This trip would not be possible without everyone's support.

So my heart is full. In fact it is brimming and overflowing with love right now. Tonight we're having dinner with the management team to celebrate our first work week here (please slow down time...). We understand we're being taken to an authentic South African restaurant. I heard someone mention worms...

Tomorrow is the weekend. We'll work on more posts so you'll have plenty to read Monday.

Until then,

Stacy

Hospice Mission Transcends All Borders

It is with a full and grateful heart that I reflect back upon the day. Yesterday morning was spent with the clinical staff in Houghton (Joburg) where we engaged the whole staff in a team building activity leading to greater awareness and understanding of one another.

The remainder of the day was spent shadowing a sister (nurse) on home visits. We went on four visits ranging from the very poor to the very affluent. Although there was incredible discrepancy regarding resources, what did not vary was the genuine presence, care, and compassion devoted to each patient and family member by the sister we shadowed. Blessed with the opportunity to take a back seat and observe this gifted sister, it is clear the hospice mission is absolutely a calling that transcends all borders. As Susan and I were able to join in the visits, we were able to model the value of working together as an interdisciplinary team (nurse, social worker, and chaplain). And we all learned from one another.

Those of you who know me well will be greatly amused to know that when I returned to the home of my host family on the second evening, one of the 8 year old twins pulled me into the kitchen to ask if I would help her bake muffins!  (All I can say is that she would have done better if my sister was her guest. Ha!).

Terri

Singing Greetings

Soweto Hospice staff greet us singing

Imagine being greeted by singing and warm smiling faces when you arrive at work. That's exactly what happened today when Susan, Terri, and I arrived at the Soweto office. All the nursing sisters, community care workers, physician, and office staff greeted us with songs and warm embraces. It took a few minutes for the three of us to compose ourselves when the singing ended so that we could introduce ourselves (and no, we did not sing for them!).

Today we taught five different subjects- the hospice experience model, spiritual assessments, the history of our partnership, palliative arts, and caregiver fatigue. You have much to be proud of. The presentations were terrific. We had over 30 people with us all day. We'll repeat these presentations next week for the Johannesburg staff.

Suncoast Hospice chaplain, Terri Peterson presenting at Soweto Hospice

Tomorrow (Thursday) we'll spend the entire day with the Johannesburg nurses. We'll start the morning facilitating a support activity with all their clinical staff and then will make home visits with the nurses.

I'll leave you with this one thought/comment. When I was talking about our partnership and asked the staff what they most appreciated or liked about the partnership they all said, "We are most grateful for your support and knowing how much you love us. It helps knowing you are there for us in many ways. It keeps us going on tough days."  

So let's keep it up!

In gratitude,

Stacy

We made it to Johannesburg

Sisters wearing Care4Soweto and Suncoast Hospice buttons

Hi everyone!  We made it to Johannesburg.  Our flight was good and we enjoyed watching movies- good thing because none of us slept very well or very long.  So, here we are in Johannesburg, where the time zone is 7 hours ahead of Clearwater.  Even though we're pretty tired (and fairly silly from not sleeping much in the last two days), we're super excited about out first day.

We arrived at Hospice Wits around 9:00 in the morning, Tuesday (we left Tampa at 6 am Monday). The hospice had a nice welcoming breakfast for us and many staff stopped by to say hello.  Penny, Dorcus, Ntombi, and Bev (who were with us in October/November) came and were wearing their red Suncoast Hospice buttons!!

Jacqui Kaye and Stacy Orloff at Resale Shop

We toured a few of their Hospice Resale Shoppes and their beautiful campus in Johannesburg.  Then we went to our host homes so we cold unpack and relax before dinner.  We hope to sleep well tonight. 

We'll be in Soweto all day Wednesday.  Susan, Terri, and I will be providing a full day of education to the nursing sisters and community care workers.  We're very excited to spend the day learning together. 

Keep reading the blog and post comments.  Your comments help us to feel even more connected to you- plus I'll share them with the Hospice Wits staff too!

Until tomorrow,

Stacy

Early Morning Travelers

Our 2013 Suncoast Hospice team getting ready to board flight to South Africa.

L-R: Stacy Orloff, VP of palliative care and community programs, Susan Bruno, director of Institute business and Theresa (Terri) Peterson, care team chaplain