Hope and Healing Press Release

UVALDE, TX – Uvalde Hospice Foundation program brings joyful blooms to hospice patients and their families.

Hospice is a valuable yet potentially underutilized service provided by a team of healthcare professionals to provide comfort for a person with a life-limiting illness. Uvalde Hospice serves approximately 200 patients. 80 to 90% of patients pass while receiving hospice services.

Imagine losing a close friend or family member in hospice care when a surprise arrangement of flowers or beautiful plants finds its way to you. It will likely make you smile, even for a moment. Plants and flowers can provide joy to someone’s day and also bring healing comfort.

The Uvalde Hospice Foundation has implemented a new Hope and Healing program in an effort to give back even more to their community. Hope and Healing is an outreach program led by hospice volunteer Anita Gutierrez, where volunteers attend the funerals of their patients and then arrange a home visit with the bereaved to deliver a floral arrangement and a personalized card. This act of kindness allows for the continuity of care after death through honoring the patient.

When volunteers deliver these floral arrangements, it is a continuation of remembrance for their loved ones. It allows them to share memories and comments on the Uvalde Hospice service.

Volunteers are a vital part of hospice care. In addition to delivering floral arrangements, they provide companionship to patients and families by visiting the patient weekly, sitting with patients when the family member goes to run an errand or gets a few minutes to themselves, attending memorial services, and assisting with office work, fundraising, and community outreach.

Hospice care provides families with more comfort, guidance, and grief counseling than traditional medical care. Uvalde Memorial Hospital’s hospice program offers 24-hour on-call care and support to patients and families every day of the week. Services provided by hospice include physician home visits, medical social services, medical supplies, spiritual care, nutritional counseling, and regular nursing care.

Uvalde Hospice Foundation (UHF) has existed for over ten years. UHF’s mission is “to support the extraordinary end-of-life care provided by Uvalde Memorial Hospital Hospice by meeting any financial needs of hospice patients in Uvalde and surrounding counties. To support the Uvalde Memorial Hospice Program and staff, allowing them to provide quality and compassionate care without financial handicaps.”

Contact Hospice Director Heidi Mathewson at 830-278-6691 to learn more about hospice care or volunteer opportunities.