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New campuses coming soon in St. John and Elmhurst! |
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Sign up to receive a FREE email copy of our most recent newsletter! In each full-color issue you can read about seniors enjoying life and making a difference -- plus, you'll learn about upcoming events and opportunities. |
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Providence Hospice plans for Largest “Tree of Light” Ceremony Ever |
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South Holland, Ill. (November 10, 2007) – Approximately 60 people have made plans to attend the fifth annual Hospice “Tree of Light” ceremony at 11:00am on Saturday, November 10, in the Holland Home chapel. The “Tree of Light” service is arranged by Providence Home Health & Hospice, headquartered in the north wing of Holland Home, and is open to families of Hospice clients who have passed away throughout the past year. Three or four families attended the first service, in 2002. Since then, Providence’s Hospice program has quadrupled, and this year’s service will reflect that growth.
Annual memorial ceremonies are a Hospice tradition, explains Providence’s Director of Hospice Maribeth Anderson, though different Hospice chapters carry them out differently. “I prefer to hold ours before Thanksgiving and Christmas,” she says, “because those holidays are so difficult for families when there has been a death. Thanksgiving and Christmas are very family-focused and rich with tradition. People who have suffered a loss are very sensitive and often unprepared for all the emotions their holiday traditions can trigger. Our ‘Tree of Light’ service gives them a chance to honor and memorialize their loved ones, and diffuse some of that emotion before the holidays arrive.” Consisting of quiet music, prayers, and Scripture readings, the service culminates with a reading of the names of the deceased. As each name is read, a glass ornament, inscribed with the name, is hung on a lighted Christmas tree. This year 75 people will be memorialized with a “Tree of Light” ornament. Family members are invited to stay for lunch following the service, and the tree, bedecked with the 75 memorial ornaments, will remain in the Providence Hospice headquarters until the end of the year. “It’s a visual reminder for us of the clients we’ve been blessed to serve this year,” explains Anderson. Throughout the year, Hospice clients are memorialized with a quilt square that is added to a quilt that hangs in the Hospice “Comfort Room.” In January the Hospice staff will disassemble the quilt, remove the glass ornaments from the Christmas tree, and send them both to the families as mementos of their loved one. The “Tree of Light” ceremony is attended by Hospice staff as well, and gives them a chance to re-connect with the families they’ve served. The service is so meaningful that one Hospice nurse, who had to leave Providence when her family moved out-of-state this summer, will be making a special trip to South Holland just for the ceremony. Families appreciate the sense of closure and the opportunity to express gratitude to the nurses and aides who provided care during the last days of a loved one’s life. “You were just wonderful,” a daughter told one staff member. “Thank you so much for everything.” |
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About Rest Haven Christian Services Providence Home Health & Hospice Care, a ministry of Rest Haven Christian Services, is headquartered in South Holland, Illinois, and serves over 100 communities in Illinois and Indiana. For more information, call 708-331-0400. |
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Copyright © Rest Haven Christian Services
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