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By PHOEBE GASTON

Times Correspondent


STAMFORD -- Tucked in a corner of the Stamford Hospital campus, the Richard L. Rosenthal Hospice Residence celebrates its 10th anniversary this summer as the only facility of its kind in Connecticut.

A branch of Stamford's Visiting Nurse and Hospice Care, the Shelburne Road residence is a 12-bed facility providing end-of-life care, with more than 1,000 patients served in the last 10 years.

Holly Brookstein, director of development, calls the hospice an incredible resource for the community.

"It's the sort of thing you really don't notice until you need it," says Brookstein, sitting in the Rosenthal Residence's sunny atrium, which opens into a garden where patients relax with their families. And while a quiet resource, the residence provides hospice care to all of those who seek it out, regardless of insurance or ability to pay.

Medicare pays for patient care but not for the room and board that the Rosenthal Residence so uniquely provides, Brookstein said, meaning that it expends far more money for patient care than what it is reimbursed by insurance companies. Directors emphasized that donations, then, are vitally important.

The hospice movement in the United States emerged only recently, in the late 1960s and early 70s, said Sandra Bardsley, executive director of VNHC and administrative director of the residence, and traditional care is still typically provided in the home or hospital. VNHC also offers this type of hospice care, calling hospice a "philosophy of care" and not a place.

The Rosenthal Residence is an option for families who can no longer handle care-giving on their own, or for patients who wish to live out the remainder of their lives in the peaceful and loving environment that it provides, said Brookstein. These services are in addition to those provided to the 2,200 patients of the Visiting Nurse program, which serves people in lower Fairfield County who are home-bound or need medical care after discharge from the hospital.

The Rosenthal Residence prides itself on providing not only for its patients' medical needs, including pain control and management of symptoms, but also their emotional ones and those of their families. Rooms are private, open out to the garden, and are equipped with pull-out couches so that families can spend the night. A kitchen is available for those who wish to cook.

Brookstein spoke of a man whose wife spent four weeks at the center before her death; he spent every night with her, as allowed by the 24-hour visitation policy.

Bardsley emphasizes the importance of the fact that "when they come here, family members are no longer care-givers. They're sons or daughters or husbands or wives" and that makes all the difference.

Donna Colleti, medical director and family member of two Rosenthal patients, reinforced that sentiment.

"There is also a great sense of relief for the patient," she said, "in that they no longer feel that they're burdening their family."

And although that may not be true in all cases, Colleti said residential care "permits a different level of comfort for the patient" by alleviating that guilt and providing reassurance of care being provided to families as well.

Colleti added that the Rosenthal Residence "really, really pays attention to comforts that make life worth living, which are not addressed in the hospital setting and sometimes can't be addressed in the home setting."

Residents and their families often take the attitude that "death is part of life," said Brookstein, adding that "it's inevitable, and we try to make that experience more dignified, more comfortable."

The goal of the residence is to make that process as easy as possible, so that patients can enjoy time left with their families and die in a peaceful way, she said.

"I think some people are apprehensive of the environment in a hospice," she said, adding, however, that "there's a lot of celebration of life here."

There are services at Christmas and Easter, and summer barbeques are often served by volunteers who are family members of former patients. The relationships of family members to the residence can extend long after a patient's stay; many become volunteers, continue to utilize the bereavement counseling offered free of charge, and maintain fond contact with nurses and staff-members.

Pat Linehan, RN and director of the residence, has been present since its opening in June 2000, along with several other staff-members. That continuity, and by extension the strong relationships staff members form with families, is an integral part of the experience the center provides, said the directors.

Shelley Forrester's mother was a patient at Rosenthal in the summer of 2008, and she speaks with great enthusiasm about that experience. Residents of Weston and Westport, respectively, Forrester and her parents chose the Rosenthal Residence when residential care became necessary because of the strong impression the staff made upon their initial visit. She was struck, she said, by the balance that Linehan exhibited between professionalism, as director of the residence, and a deep sense of caring about the well-being of the family.

"These people are professionals at reading the situation and knowing exactly what you want or need," Forrester said.

She watched the restorative process that took place for her mother, who she says was physically and spiritually renewed as she prepared for the end of her life.

"That was the gift of hospice, a place for her to do that and for us to watch," Forrester said.

Forrester took advantage of a full year of bereavement counseling offered by the center after her mother's death.

"It was loving, spiritual, amazing, amazing, amazing counseling. There were no rules: whatever you needed, you got," she said.

Her experience with the Rosenthal Residence, Forrester said, was transformative.

"(The staff) stay in this peaceful, loving, amazing place, and teach you how to get there yourself," she said. "I learned so much about so many things."

Forrester said the Rosenthal experience allowed her to become significantly closer to her father, and it brought out the best in him.

She also offered one final characterization of her time at Rosenthal.

"I use the words 'wonderful,' 'amazing,' 'happy,' and 'joyful,'" she said, in describing the passing away of her mother. "How weird is that? But it's not what you think. This is the experience they're able to create."


The Richard L. Rosenthal Hospice Residence will be celebrating its 10th anniversary on Sept. 30 with a fundraising event at the Italian Center in Stamford. For more information about both the event and the services the Residence provides, visit www.vnhcsw.org.

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