Mary Labyak ~ Honored with the National Hospice Architect Award!

Mary Labyak

"Grand Dame of the Hospice World"

Honored at the

National Hospice Gala

April 8, 2011

 My old friend Mary

Received the

Hospice Architect Award!!!

Congratulations Mary,

a pioneer of the hospice movement, a Social Worker,

a leader and visionary ... and the press release from the

National Hospice Foundation read like this:

One of America’s most accomplished hospice executives, Mary Labyak, will receive the

Healthcare Architect Award from the National Hospice Foundation.

It will be presented at the seventh annual NHF gala on April 8, 2011.

A social worker by training and a patient advocate by nature, Labyak began her work in end-of-life care in 1977 as a volunteer for a small, fledgling hospice. Since 1980, she has served as its leader, transforming it from a small, “typical” hospice to Suncoast Hospice, one of the most recognized and respected end-of-life care organizations in the country.
(Suncoast Hospice used to be called, "The Hospice of The Florida Suncoast) for those that don't know it was changed recently!


Suncoast Hospice cares for thousands of people a day. Under Labyak’s leadership, the hospice has expanded its services to include advance care planning and education, high specialized pediatric palliative care, pain and symptom management consultations, and much more.


Labyak’s leadership extends to the national level. She currently serves as the chair of the NHF board of trustees and co-chair of the Capital Campaign for the National Center for Care at the End of Life. In the past, she chaired NHPCO’s board of directors and has served on many NHPCO committees.


“Of the many skilled and accomplished leaders in our field, Mary rises to the top for her longstanding commitment to end-of-life care. The numerous innovations she has implemented in her own program make Suncoast Hospice one of the most admired hospices in the country,” Said J. Donald Schumacher, NHF president and CEO.


“Those who have worked closely with Mary know that when she is conceptualizing a project, she likes to illustrate her thinking by drawing circles. The patient and family are always at the center,” Schumacher noted. “Her work demonstrates that you can be creative and innovative, taking programs in new directions and be successful. They key is to act like Mary Labyak, always keeping the patient and family foremost.”


NHF’s Healthcare Architect Award recognizes individuals who have made a significant impact in the delivery and understandings of hospice and palliative care. Honorees have shaped programs, developed initiatives, and raised awareness, enhancing the provision of quality end-of-life care with greater access for all. It is through their daily mission that NHF’s vision of a world filled with the best care humankind can offer will become a reality.
Last year, this award was given posthumously to Senator Edward Kennedy, in recognition of his work as an early advocate for hospice.

That's me,

Taft Abras (a wonderful man) and

Mary

Taft is the rose between to ole' hospice dames I'm thinkin!

Better that than The Rose standing between two thorns right?

I must tell you,

Mary Labyak, is quite a woman something she...

and the part of her drawing in circles, thinking in circles,

always makes me laugh...

Life is indeed a circle;

as everything we do is in circles you know...

seasons, cycles, birds build their nests in circles,

the medicine wheel is a circle

Indians view all in circles

and the family is a circle

Hurricanes are circles as well

and

sometimes folks can even manage to lose their way

running in circles I have found out!

so

only goes to figure that Mary would see and draw all that she has done in circles as well.

Ah, we go back many many moons

Mary and I

and

 she is indeed to be recognized as one of the great leaders of the hospice world

and quite a grand dame she is.

AND

funny how my heroes seem to be those Hospice pioneers

thank you > Wado,  Mary.

People used to laugh at me when I would tell them,

"I could just sit and listen to Mary talk all day long,

I just love her voice and presence".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48go8_2cVFw

Well, there you go then... Mary Labyak

the woman who had me at hello

more years ago than I can count

I'm thinkin of you Mary

and

I thank you

but then again those who have read

HEALING HEARTACHES

know how I have always felt about

this grand dame of the hospice world

who thinks in circles!

Reaching out,

TAKING A STAND

and

Making HOSPICE

about LIFE

I also hold a very sacred space in my heart

for

Taft, a brilliant and lovely man he is.

Mary, many others in the world of hospice have been taught by the best... we've been taught by those we have been honored to walk with along the journey of end of life care; those patients and the folks that love them.

They are the true experts, and they are the ones who

have really taught us, have made us better along the way.

"We cannot be satisfied to only take care of people at the end of their lives, we must get involved much earlier in  their lives earlier" Mary most eloquently stated when speaking to all at the gala... now if folks just would get that deep in their nervous systems and act on those words I'm thinking...

Just a phone call, a card, just to reach out and let someone know they are cared about cost nothing but gives so much in this world and those who live their lives during times of profound stress, angst, suffering along with such robust and great times as well.

Mary said it quite well... We must care deeply within the circle

earlier throughout the lives of all people.

If you want to step outside of self, and get involved in the greater circle and enrich your own circle:

call your local hospice

and

make a difference in your community, which will expand your circle and that of our worlds!

HOSPICE is about life!

National Hospice and Palliative Care http://nhpco.org/templates/1/homepage.cfm

to find out where your local hospice is!

Everyday is A Gift!

As Mary says:

Life is precious

Life is finite

Life is NOW

Tell those you love that you love them

Tell them that you care NOW

Get Involved in Your life

><

IN the early early days, Josefina Magno a brilliant woman in DC, and physician was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she saw first hand the angst that patients and families go through ... she decided to make a difference in that, so she became a woman who then

started a little hospice in Northern VA

a little house that mercy built

HOSPICE

and then started educating doctors to the needs of patients and families

to receive compassionate care

to make patients and families

FIRST in all that is done

to enhance care.

Another grand dame of hospice

which all is built on

and

now is growing.

suffering is suffering

As Mary said, "they bout have to kill ya to cure ya"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU_JL-f0AN8&feature=related

I've said it all now, through Patti, and that's all there is to say.

the fire is burning brightly, the embers are hot, the sage is fired up and thoughts are on the wind to all today,

for Mary Labyak and Taft with great gratitude

and to all who enter here.

Walk In Beauty,

DRSES

http://www.drsherryeshowalter.com/