• H I Wilker and B Lowell.
• St. Rita's Hospice, Lima, OH 45801, USA.
• Hosp J. 1996 Jan 1; 11 (4): 25-39.

AbstractFunctioning as a hospital-based hospice program of a large medical center, bereavement services are not limited to hospice families in one location. Bereavement services are offered to those who died within the medical center and to the residents of the three county area the hospice serves. This paper identifies ways to offer bereavement follow-up to hospice and non-hospice families. This will include discussion of mixing together survivors of different types of death in a support group atmosphere. Due to the smaller population of a rural setting, the need to be creative to offer bereavement services to the community is imperative. This paper will discuss how our Bereavement Services have expanded in response to the needs of the communities in the three county area we serve. We will discuss survey results, meeting and support group data used to generate supporting information to allow our services to grow. Learning objectives for this article consist of readers being able to identify ways to develop and expand bereavement services; incorporating various types of death in a support group setting; and ways to better serve non-hospice families in need of bereavement follow-up. Topics include a description of Bereavement Services; Pre-Death Bereavement Intervention; Open and Closed Support groups; Routine Bereavement Follow-up of Hospice families; Quarterly Nursing Home Staff Support groups; Widow/Widower Brunch Social; opportunities to educate the community about Death/Dying; and data collection for Bereavement Needs.

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