NEWS

September 16, 2007
Prison hospice becomes reality after many years

Waupun — Still in its infancy stages, the hospice program at Dodge Correctional Institution is taking baby steps forward.

The program, the first in a Wisconsin correctional setting, is a reality today due to a multi-disciplinary team effort between prison administration, security staff, chaplaincy, social services and psychological services staff, medical staff and inmate volunteers.

A community partnership with Agnesian HealthCare's Hospice Hope of Fond du Lac provided support and training for staff and inmate volunteers.

Inmates at the hospice stay in the three rooms dedicated to hospice patients in the 62-bed infirmary, said DCI Warden Cathy Jess.

"While the hospice inmates are monitored by nursing staff, inmate volunteers take turns pulling shifts during the day and early evening, sitting with the sick inmates and providing basic cares and companionship," Jess said. "There's a little bit of an investment in the program, but it really doesn't take much to run it monetarily."

The DOC estimates that it costs about $200 per day to care for an inmate in the hospice unit, said DOC spokesman John Dipko.

Inmates assist
To become a volunteer in the hospice program, inmates must first be carefully screened, said Margie Barnes, DCI hospice coordinator and medical social worker.

"We look at their records and conduct reports and check to see if they have good interpersonal and communication skills and are empathic and caring," Barnes said.

Inmates receive 16 hours of training and are schooled in the basic hospice philosophy and receive on-the-job training with a mentor.

"Inmates are in the rooms all the time taking care of the patient's lesser needs, greatly relieving the nursing staff," said Jim Hebel, assistant nursing manager.

Extended visitation privileges are also made available for family members and fellow inmates who wish to visit dying inmates.

"Allowing inmates to visit in the infirmary or letting the dying inmate mingle with the rest of the general prison population has never been done before," said Barnes of the increased access. "There have been a lot of firsts with this program."

"A lot of these inmates have no one besides their inmate family. We wanted to give them the opportunity to say goodbye to the people they've lived with for the last 15 to 20 years," said Lt. Brian Thom, security liaison for the DCI infirmary.

When inmates sign on to hospice care, it's with the recognition that they have opted against employing any extraordinary means to prolong life, said Chaplain Paul Rogers.

"That's all part of the decision-making process that takes place six to eight months before they die," Rogers said. "In return, we promise them that we will make their exit from life as pain-free as possible."

Special rooms
Inmates admitted to the hospice program generally stay from one to six months in one of the specially appointed rooms in the infirmary dedicated for hospice care.

From the lace curtains on the windows to the colorful quilts and afghans spread out across the bed to the well-crafted, wooden entertainment center, all of the accoutrements in the "home-like" room are either donated or made by inmates from correctional institutions throughout the state. Other donations may come from families of deceased inmates who received care in the prison hospice program.

"I believe it is the other inmates' hope that they may benefit from this service someday," Jess said.

As death becomes imminent, inmates are placed on a 24-hour death watch, with inmate volunteers staying at the dying inmate's side without pause.

"To those inmates serving life sentences, this hospice program means a lot, because some day it will be them being taken care of in that bed," Thom said.

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