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Community Nurse and Hospice Care, Inc. – A United
Way Funded Agency
Success Story
Hospice Makes a Difference
“Well, I couldn’t be more impressed with your
agency.” Bill Strohmeier asserts as he takes a seat
at Community Nurse & Hospice Care. Bill has nothing
but high praise for the wonderful team of
clinicians, aides and volunteers in the Hospice
program at CNHC. Mr. Strohmeier found himself, like
many of our patients’ families, in need of help in
caring for his ailing wife, who was suffering from
Alzheimer’s Disease.
He describes his many years with his wife not only
with affection but also with a memory that most of
us would envy. Reminiscing, Bill admits that he had
to put in a little extra effort to get Bea to go on
a date with him. He courted her at Smith College by
flying a Cub airplane over her dormitory. At the
time, he was very involved in the Flying Club at
Amherst College and eventually became the first
President of the National Intercollegiate Flying
Club.
Bea and Bill were married a year before Pearl Harbor
and spent WWII in Orangeburg, SC where Bill was an
Air Force flight instructor at Hawthorne Field.
After the war they settled in Darien, CT. Bill was
in the advertising business and Bea was working as
an interior decorator. Two children made it a
family, a boy Peter and a girl, Judith. In 1972 they
purchased a house on Mishaum Point in South
Dartmouth near where Bill had vacationed as a child.
In 1985, they made this home their permanent
residence. They since moved to Hidden Bay, nearer
Padanaram.
It was not until more recently that Bea became
afflicted with a progressive dementia secondary to
Alzheimer’s Disease. As her disease progressed, she
was admitted to Brandon Woods Nursing Home in
Dartmouth where Mr. Strohmeier says they received
outstanding care. “It wasn’t what Bea wanted,
though,” he remembers. “She really wanted to come
home and that’s where I wanted her too. So, we asked
our doctor and he said we could bring her home with
hospice services. I didn’t know what hospice was at
the time. I thought it was a place where people had
inpatient services.”
Bill described in detail the ease in which the
clinical team at Community Nurse & Hospice Care came
into the home, arranged for supplies and a hospital
bed and managed the care of his ailing wife. CNHC
provided nursing, social work, home health aide and
chaplain services to the family while Bea was on
service. “Everyone got along very well, which was
important at that time. Our nurse, Nancy Dodson, was
just wonderful and provided so much help and
organization during her visits. I was really
surprised about the services that are available
through your agency.”
Bill confides that he misses Bea tremendously-68
years of truly blissful married life with lots of
good friends, lots of great trips, lots of rewarding
work with charities, and a family grown to four
grandchildren. He ends our afternoon meeting by
expressing his gratitude for our staff. “I don’t
know what we would have done with Community Nurse. I
am very thankful.” |
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