Hospice patients, families remembered

Trees outside the Pioneers Museum will bear Christmas lights this holiday season to honor local people who have died from terminal illnesses.

On Saturday evening, a crowd of several hundred gathered for a lighting ceremony. It was part of the 30th annual Trees of Life event sponsored by Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care.

PPHPC provides medical care and related services to dying patients — often allowing those patients to spend their final days at home — as well as counseling and other services to patients’ families.

Joanne Mayne didn’t know what hospice care was until seven years ago when her newborn son, Gabriel, died three days after birth.

“He had a chromosomal defect similar to Down’s syndrome,” she said. “He had internal organs that were on the outside and I didn’t know how to care for him. PPHPC showed me.”

Mayne and her son, Logan, 10, also received counseling to cope with Gabriel’s death.

“I don’t want to imagine where I’d be without hospice,” she said. “I would have been lost and really scared. They’re great with kids. They really helped Logan.”

The hospice care made such a positive impression on the Maynes that they now work as volunteers to help other hospice patients.

“I do touch therapy and Logan reads to them,” Mayne said.

Her son explained what he most likes about volunteering.

“When they’re glad that you’re there,” Logan said. “They really hug you hard.”

Donors paid between $20 and $1,000 for the lights. The money raised, pays for hospice care.

Most of the lights are white but a tree with red, white and blue lights honors military personnel and first responders who received hospice care.

PPHPC cared for about 1,700 new families this year.