Warwick townlively.com
JUNE 5, 2024
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
VOL LXV • NO 13
A special type of care BY JEFF FALK
but you have to be empathetic to what the patient and the families e a t h i s p e r s o n a l a n d are going through. You have to mysterious. It’s a part of limit how attached you get. There life, the final stage of life. have been times when I’ve become As a registered nurse case emotional. Sometimes there’s manager at Hospice & Community Care of Lancaster, Gordon Smoker has watched many patients experi“We’re here to make ence the end of life. our patients’ remaining “I feel like we all have our time the best we can.” ideas of what death is. Religion and spirituality can provide a framework, but until we’re at the door, we’re not exactly sure what nothing to say. You have to be it’s like,” Smoker said. “We truly able to recognize when people are don’t know what’s going on. It’s a making those end-of-life changes. very spiritual time.” You have to be able to talk through In his position, Smoker cares for things.” patients diagnosed as terminal, Hospice & Community Care with six months or less to live, and employs nearly 400 individuals, their caregivers, very often in their more than 200 of whom practice homes. There’s a technical side, a some level of nursing. At any given medical side, to his profession, but time, Smoker works with 12 to 25 also a mental and emotional side. patients and their families in the “There’s a balance you have to Lititz area, the Denver area, north find,” said Smoker, a resident of of Ephrata, into Myerstown and Manheim Township. “You don’t Berks County. want to be too cold and detached, “Hospice is a great service, and
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it’s important to the community,” said Smoker. “Hospice care is something many people may be able to benefit from. It doesn’t have to be a scary thing. It’s like the rest of life. We approach death the way we approach life. It’s the next challenge.” One of 25 hospice providers in Lancaster County, Hospice & Community Care supplied care for 4,800 patients and their families in 2023. “ We ’re here to make our patients’ remaining time the best we can,” said Smoker. “That’s what I enjoy about the job. A lot of people are going to have different stories. You deal with acceptance, and you deal with denial. Sometimes, it can almost be a positive experience.” Smoker has been a registered nurse for 10 years, the last four of which have been spent in the world of hospice. Included in his duties as a registered nurse case manager, Smoker collaborates with other nurses to coordinate patient care, Gordon Smoker, a registered nurse case manager, prepares to meet a
Nothing quenches thirst for summer music like lemonade concerts BY JEFF FALK
T he L ancaster Lemonade Concert Series (LLCS) is cool, it’s refreshing, it’s delightfully delicious - no t unlike the summertime drink bearing its name and served at the end of each performance. T he L ancaster Lemonade Concert Series is back, as big and entertaining as ever. Quite frankly, it’s a great way to spend warm Thursday evenings
in Manheim Township. “It’s held in a church setting, and the air conditioning makes it a cool atmosphere,” said LLCS board member Kathy Seaber. “People are talking, but they’re very attentive during the performance. It’s every informal. It’s very relaxed. People come casual. It’s very charming. It’s a fun evening.” Conducted at Highland Presbyterian Church, 500 E. Roseville Road, Lancaster, LLCS is a series See Lemonade concerts pg 3
Dehydration collaboration Local nonprofits pool their resources to feed the world BY JEFF FALK
World hunger isn’t a food shortage problem. World hunger is a logistical difficulty, a supply problem. Working together, a pair of local nonprofit organizations have come up with a solution that is making a real difference in addressing the global problem. The key to their successful solution is an innovative approach to the process of food dehydration. “The problem isn’t that the See Dehydration collaboration Blessings of Hope staff member Paula Sentgeorge loads produce into pg 2 the nonprofit’s commercial food dehydration unit.
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The Ark Encounter & Creation Museum Williamstown, Kentucky POSTMASTER: PLEASE DELIVER JUN. 5, 2024
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See Hospice nurse pg 2 patient.