January 2022 Machias – Stuart Donovan, from Englishman’s Bay in Jonesport, visited Down East Community Hospital at the end of December to deliver a check in the amount of $10,000 for the Comfort Care Suite in memory of his wife. Stuart’s wife, Carole M. Donovan, who passed away on April 30, 2021 after a courageous battle with cancer, told her husband she wanted to donate to the suite. “This is what my wife wanted, and this is what I’m doing”, stated Mr. Donovan when presenting the check.
CEO, Steve Lail, on the donation, “We are very appreciative of this donation to the Comfort Care Suite. Because of Carole’s generosity, we will be able to upgrade the suite and add amenities that will make it even more comfortable. For instance, we are in much need of a sleeper recliner for the patient room so a family member can stay comfortably by their loved one’s side. We also need a new table and chairs for the eating nook in the family room. All items purchased will benefit families for years to come and we have the Donovan family to thank for that.”
The Comfort Care Suite is dedicated to the comfort and caring of patients and their families DECH began fundraising for a Palliative Care Suite, now called the Comfort Care Suite, in 2011. At the end of 2012, the suite was completed. Two existing hospital rooms were combined and renovated to make a comfortable, homelike suite: one room for the patient and one for their family members. A comfortable pull-out couch, recliner, kitchen, eating nook, and flat screen TV are some of the amenities that are provided for the family. This project was fully funded through the generosity of our community, staff, and physicians and donations have come in over the years dedicated to that suite.
Within our hospital, our aim is for Palliative Care services to provide comprehensive, compassionate, and coordinated care for inpatients and Emergency Department patients and their families. The Palliative Care team assists patients and their families to have a comfortable, positive, meaningful experience throughout the progression of the illness in an environment of openness, compassion, and caring.
Palliative Care is care that moves along a continuum from curative care to death. In the beginning of a chronic illness, we do everything we can to provide “curative” treatments. When the chronic illness progresses to a place where fewer and fewer treatments provide any measurable relief of symptoms, we move more towards “end of life care”.
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