Name:   Michele McElroy How long have you been a volunteer? I have been volunteering with Angela Hospice for the past 6 years. What areas do you work in/what sort of tasks do you do as a volunteer? I am currently making weekly companionship visits to hospice patients with dementia in local nursing and memory care facilities.  I also help with mailings as needed, and I have volunteered in the Care Center and with the grief support meetings. What made you decide to become a volunteer? I have a background in social work and have always been interested in helping others.  Working part time and having older children has given me the chance to use my time for volunteer opportunities. Why Angela Hospice? Angela Hospice is such a special place to me.  Not only do they provide an in-depth training for their volunteers, they continue to provide their volunteers with training and support throughout the year. My family has also used Angela Hospice for home care wit...

To help give grieving families the gift of time after their loss, Ashlie’s Embrace and the Burman family of Minerva, Ohio, visited Angela Hospice on July 12 to donate a CuddleCot™. Erin Maroon  of Ashlie's Embrace In a moving presentation, Ashlie’s Embrace co-founder Erin Maroon shared the story of how she was determined to help other families after experiencing the loss of her full-term daughter, Ashlie. Maroon had not heard of CuddleCots, but once she learned about the device, it became her mission to bring them to medical centers throughout the United States. CuddleCots™ consist of a cooling unit and pad that lay in a bassinet or Moses basket and keep a baby cool after stillbirth or infant loss. The cool temperatures slow the natural changes that occur after death, which gives parents and families more time to process their loss. Loved ones can change the baby’s diaper, bathe their baby, or take photos. The device is manufactured and used extensively in the United Ki...

Michigan's hospice professionals were heartened this week as Senate Bill 128 and House Bill 4225 were signed into law by Governor Whitmer on July 8. This new law adds an exception to current opioid regulations, which will allow hospice physicians to more easily prescribe and adjust opioid pain medications to best meet the needs of hospice patients. Marti Coplai Angela Hospice President & CEO In thanking and congratulating members of the hospice community who worked to advocate for this legislation, Michigan HomeCare and Hospice Association President and CEO Barry S. Cargill, specifically recognized Angela Hospice President and CEO Marti Copai among those who spearheaded this important achievement: "The MHHA Opioid Task Force, Chairs Lori Smoker-Young and Marti Coplai were critical leaders of the campaign. So many people took time away from their hospice duties to testify at legislative hearings, visit and communicate with legislators and state departments.....

Lucille Hoedl and Bruce Cameron at Angela  Hospice's  Laughter Lifts You Up event in 2009. If you’re planning to go see A Dog’s Journey , which is playing at the Penn Theatre in Plymouth and the Farmington Civic this weekend, there’s an interesting connection between that movie and Angela Hospice.  Angela Hospice was listed in the acknowledgements for  the novel  A Dog’s Journey , which was first published in 2012 . Author W. Bruce Cameron  visited Angela Hospice ten years ago when he performed at our Laughter Lifts You Up event. Accompanied by his aunt Lucille Hoedl, an Angela Hospice volunteer, Bruce met with several Angela Hospice staff members, some of whom he also mentions in the acknowledgements for A Dog’s Journey : "Much of what I know about hospice and end-of-life care I learned from my aunt Lucy, who volunteered for decades at Angela Hospice in Livonia, Michigan. She introduced me to Bob Alexander, and he, Barb Iovan, Mary Ann Jogan...

Angela Hospice is sponsoring a children’s grief camp this summer in conjunction with New Hope Center for Grief Support in Northville. The camp will take place over two days, July 25 and 26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Maybury Farm in Northville. Organizers have planned a variety of interactive activities from music to equestrian therapy, art projects to foot races, and more. “The New Hope Center for Grief Support Kids Camp allows us to bring grieving children together to let them know they are not alone,” said Jennifer Frush, assistant director for New Hope. Frush said last year’s camp, also held at Maybury, offered children the “ opportunity to connect with others their age who have also experienced loss.” As Angela Hospice’s Director of Social Work and Bereavement Mike Conway explained, “Meeting other kids who have suffered a similar loss can help children feel more confident and understood,” while fostering a sense of community. New Hope’s camp is designed for th...

Pictured L to R: Emilia, Justin & Jude Chambers.      In February 2018, life for the Chambers family was turned upside down. Vanessa Laco Chambers learned her cancer was terminal, and a few weeks later, just days after her 39th birthday, she succumbed to the disease while in Angela Hospice's home care program.      "Everybody took such good care of her when she was in her final stages. It was amazing. I'd never experienced anything like that before, so I think we were very lucky in that context," said Vanessa's husband, Justin Chambers. "They always come out happier  than  they  went in," Justin said of Emilia  and  Jude,  about their visits with  Angela Hospice's  children's grief  counselor Debbie  Vallandingham  and therapy dog, Piper.      He was grateful for the help of Angela Hospice, especially for the guidance of their social worker, so he said it was a n...

Barbara with her mother after being crowned Ladywood Queen.      When Barbara Jean McClellan was a teenager and her old school closed, she found a place that felt like home at the Felician Sisters’ Ladywood High School. She was crowned Ladywood Queen her first semester, served as Vice President, and was part of Ladywood’s inaugural graduating class in 1953. Her time at Ladywood would have a big impact on her future as well. Barbara visited the  Dominican  sisters'  convent in Adrian when she was  considering  becoming a nun.     Though Barbara was being groomed to become a Dominican nun, her plans changed when she met a young Korean War veteran, the brother of one of her Ladywood classmates. Barbara married Ron Quinkert on April 24, 1954. Barbara and Ron raised their children in Livonia. Lynn remembers a happy home, with the kids singing to American Bandstand and dancing their soul train lines whil...