|
 HomeCare
& Hospice Nurse Diane Bolster (left) visits with home care
patient Martin Murray (seated) and his wife, Lois (right).
Assistance from the agency helps keep Mr. Murray in his
home.
BERGEN – Army veteran Martin Murray has
always been a take-charge kind of man. Although a respiratory
ailment has slowed him down, he is maintaining his independence
with the help of HomeCare & Hospice.
November is National Home Care Month,
a
time set aside to honor the organizations and workers which
provide home care services.
HomeCare & Hospice is one of more than 17,000 home care agencies
across the country, according to the National Association for
Home Care and Hospice.
Mr. Murray is one of 12 million people receiving home
care services in the United States this year.
The 80-year-old’s occupations have included
truck driving, highway construction, running a door factory and
a gas station, sales, and working at Kodak – whatever he needed
to do to support his seven children. Now coping with COPD
(Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), he must use a
wheelchair to get around and oxygen to help him breathe.
“My
lungs aren’t working that well anymore. I can’t walk five feet
without having to sit down,” he said.
Despite his current physical weakness, Mr.
Murray has a deep, commanding voice fitting his once rugged
lifestyle. Mr. Murray joined the Army in peace time and was
running a U.S. Army ordnance department in Panama when the
Korean War began.
“I volunteered for three years, but when
the Korean War broke out, Harry Truman said, ‘You’re doing a
good job. Take another one,’” he recalled. “I didn’t see
conflict. The Army thought what I was doing was important and
kept the shop open.”
As a veteran, Mr. Murray receives health
care services from the Veterans’ Administration (VA). In
December of 2002, Physician Assistant Edward Piechocki referred
him to HomeCare & Hospice, which serves veterans under contract
with the VA.
Home Health Aide Ginger Esten provides
assistance three times per week and RN Care Coordinator Diane
Bolster visits as necessary.
“Ginger helps me bathe and get cleaned up
and does some light housekeeping. It makes it much simpler for
my wife, Lois,” said Mr. Murray.
“One of the most helpful things she does is
make our king size bed up fresh once a week. It’s getting hard
for me, at 82, to do that anymore,” said Mrs. Murray.
The Murrays have been married to each other
for nearly 14 years. Both lost their previous spouses to
illnesses.
Mr. Murray praised HomeCare & Hospice for
both the home care he is receiving now and the hospice care his
late wife received.
“I’m behind it 100 percent.
I had (HomeCare & Hospice) for my first wife. They did
everything for her. It was a good as it could be under the
situation,” he said, adding that another hospice organization in
the Rochester area cared for Lois’ husband.
The Murrays say they feel fortunate to have
found each other after their losses.
“Lois has been good for me and I think I
have been good for her. I’m happy with my life, I’ve had a good
life and I don’t regret any of it,” said Mr. Murray.
For information on home care services, call 1-800-719-7129.
|