| President's Letter
Dear Volunteers,
At Boquete Health & Hospice we believe in the power of compassion and community. We have been providing essential healthcare-related and support services to those in need for years, thanks to our incredible team of volunteers. But now, we want to do even more, and we need your help!
This month, we're introducing our "Each One, Reach One" campaign—an opportunity for YOU to make a difference and expand our impact. We are calling upon each of our current volunteers to take up the challenge and inspire one more person to join our mission of providing compassionate care, education, and related services to our community.
Why Should You Help? By recruiting just one more volunteer, you amplify the positive change we can create together. Imagine the difference we can make when our united efforts double! By inviting someone you know, you strengthen the bond within our volunteer family, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment. By reaching out to one person, you pass on the gift of service, creating a legacy of compassion for future generations. Every volunteer we add to our organization extends the ripple effect of our work.
How Can You Get Involved?
- Identify Potential Volunteers: Think of friends, family members, colleagues, or neighbors who might share our passion for making a positive impact.
- Spread the Word: Share our mission, success stories, and the benefits of joining our team.
- Be a Mentor: Offer guidance and support to the new volunteer you recruit. Show them the ropes, introduce them to fellow volunteers, and help them feel welcome and valued.
I hope you'll take this opportunity to reach out to your friends and neighbors and inspire them to help us serve the community. Together, let's expand the reach of Boquete Health & Hospice! Please refer interested volunteers to visit our website and complete the Volunteer Application form there, or call or text us at +507-6781-9250 for more information on how to get involved.
Sincerely,
Roderic Gottula, MD | | |
Update on Communicable Diseases Policy
| | | On September 6, 2023, the Boquete Health & Hospice Council discussed an update to our Communicable Diseases policy. After discussion it was decided that the mask policy needed to be revised.
The following changes were voted on and unanimously approved by the voting members of the Council:
- Any volunteer member that interacts with a patient must wear an N95 or KN95 mask. This applies to Patient Care Coordinators, Hospice and Home Care team members, and Meal team members who deliver meals to the patients. (SLIGHT CHANGE – masks had formerly been required when dealing with a patient's family members or friends.)
- Equipment team members no longer need to wear masks when loaning out equipment. (CHANGE – masks had formerly been required.)
The remainder of the policy remains the same: - At BHH classes and events where social distancing is possible, masks are now optional. It is still recommended that masks be worn.
- A mask is mandatory for anyone attending a BHH class or event where social distancing is not maintainable. For example: CPR class where people are working on manikins and are less than one foot apart from each other.
- Any volunteer member that is going into patients' homes must (a) be fully vaccinated AND (b) wear an N95 or KN95 mask. Fully vaccinated means having two shots of Pfizer or Moderna, or one of Johnson and Johnson. (This is MINSA's definition of "fully vaccinated.")
| |  | | You Can Now Donate to BHH Via Visa and MasterCard! | | Your continued support can make an incredible difference in the lives of those we serve. As the end of the year approaches and we set our goals for 2024, we kindly invite you to consider contributing to Boquete Health & Hospice to support the vital programs and services we provide the community. Every donation, no matter the size, brings us one step closer to our goal.
You can now make donations via our website with Visa and MasterCard, using their credit or debit cards, or by clicking on the button below. | | |
October General Meeting
Chris McCall Presents "What to Do When the Lights Go Out: Don't be Left in the Dark—Illuminate Your World!"
| | | | Join us Wednesday, October 11, from 10-11am at the Animales Event Center in Alto Boquete. Preregistration is not required and this event is free, though donations to support our work are gratefully accepted. | | | When the lights go out, will you be ready? Join us for an enlightening lecture on "What to Do When the Lights Go Out: Don't Be Left in the Dark."
Discover a world beyond traditional lighting. Learn about diverse methods of illumination, from the rustic charm of oil lamps and candles, to the modern efficiency of generators, Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems, batteries, and even solar power. The information provided will help you select the best solution for your budget and lifestyle.
Demystify the world of electricity with a simple explanation of AC/DC, volts, amps, and watts. Learn how to size your own systems to ensure you're never left in the dark. But it's not just about seeing in the dark. Light plays a crucial role in our well-being and health. Explore the importance of light beyond mere illumination. Join us and step into the light!
With two decades of experience in off-grid systems, BHH volunteer and Technology Team Lead Chris McCall is a seasoned expert based in Chiriqui. His portfolio boasts the design of an impressive off-grid system for Rancho de Caldera, which includes 70 solar panels and a micro-hydro system. In addition, he has brought sustainable energy to four homes in Chiriqui, demonstrating his commitment to green living.
Chris's expertise extends beyond solar, encompassing generators, micro-hydro, and wind energy systems. His personal commitment to sustainable energy is evident in his own lifestyle, as he currently resides in a solar-powered home.
Now retired, Chris shares his knowledge and experience without any commercial intent. His contributions to the field of off-grid systems continue to illuminate lives, one panel at a time.
| | | ACT NOW AND BE A HERO!
Join our next Blood Drive on Saturday, October 21 and help us beat the record we set in June, when we collected 102 pints of blood, an all-time high for any blood drive in Panama!
The blood drive will be held from 7am to noon at the Animales Event Center in Alto Boquete. Preregistration is strongly recommended. If you're interested in participating in the Blood Drive and/or joining the Matching Fund, please click the links below to sign up. For more information, contact blood@boquetehealth.org or send a WhatsApp text to the BHH blood line at 6590-2000.
THANK YOU for giving the gift of life!
| | | October 21 Blood Drive BHH Celebrates these BLOOD DONOR HEROES!
Why They Donated Blood at Our Last 8 Blood Drives
As we lead up to the event, we're featuring individuals who have donated blood multiple times. In this issue, we'll share the stories of Carlos Kattengell and Chris Young. | | |
"I am grateful to God who has given me the opportunity to be a blood donor and to be able to help others. Besides, my blood type is not very common."
~Carlos Kattengell | | | |
It's always great to see the community come together and donate blood, or those who aren't eligible due to travel or age donate funds to keep it going! One blood donation has the potential of saving many lives."
~Chris Young
| | | "Giving blood serves a lot of purposes! My main reason for doing so is it saves lives and allows me to give back to people who really need it. Imagine having one of the worst days of your life, being in a hospital, having everything available to survive your trauma except blood, and the stress of making phone calls, posting on social media and going through all that so you can find blood. The blood banks often are dry and this is the process many face to survive. There are other benefits; donating blood is very healthy, it's like changing your oil in your car. It's a silly analogy, but it's true! And finally, my family and I are on the priority list to receive blood, if we ever need it. If you are eligible, I highly recommend it."
~Chris Young | |  | | Watch this video about the upcoming Blood Drive on October 21 – English version. | |  | | Watch this video about the upcoming Blood Drive on October 21 – Spanish version. | |  | | Students and presenters from August 29-30 New Volunteer Orientation class (right to left): Dyana Fruto, Alain Antonio, Natalie Kelly, Maria Young, Meg Wilson, David Young, Daniel Gallagher, Jane Keener-Quiat, Kat McKay, Michael Polacek, Maria Pitti, Michael Kelly, Jeri Siegel, Rhonda Morrissette, and Liz Baze. Not shown: Sharon Spalding and Maxine Wolfe. | | | BHH Graduates Largest New Volunteer Class Ever! The largest BHH New Volunteer Orientation Class ever was held on August 29-30. The newly redesigned and streamlined training afforded new volunteers the opportunity to learn more about our organization and the services that it provides so they can choose a team that will offer a rewarding volunteer experience. Participants also met team leaders and Council members and got to know their fellow new volunteers. Kudos to Max Wolfe, our Training Team Leader, and Kat McKay, VP – Operations, as well as several others, for their excellent work revising the program. And to our newest volunteers, a heartfelt THANK YOU for your dedication to helping others.
Boquete Health & Hospice continues to grow and provide more services to the Boquete community, and as we do, more volunteers are needed. BHH is comprised of a diverse group of people of many ages and backgrounds who want to serve the community, use their skills, and meet new and interesting people.
Our next New Volunteer Orientation is October 25-26. If you'd like to become a volunteer and attend the class, please complete a membership application here. We will contact you within a few days to discuss your interests and how we can work together. | | | The "Earle-y" Years of BHH:
John and Babbie Earle and Sixteen Years
of Innovation in Community-Based Healthcare
When John Earle stepped down as our President earlier this year to become President Emeritus, it marked the end of BHH's first era, which might be called the "Earle-y" years. It was John and his wife Babbie who in the mid-2000s decided to form a hospice in Boquete.
John and Babbie had been hospice volunteers and committee members in Vermont and New Hampshire (at one of the very first hospices in the US) for three decades. They were firm believers in death with dignity and the importance of palliative care for the dying. They were soon joined in their mission by friends Jerry Hedrick and Mary Feldbrugge, and together these four founded the Boquete Health and Hospice Foundation (BHHF). Mary was a lawyer and Jerry was also very helpful with the complicated legal aspects of setting up the foundation.
"The Panamanian government had, and still has on the books, the National Palliative Care Resolution #499, which states that every province must have a palliative care center," remembers Babbie. "We worked hard for years trying to find someone who knew about this law. It had not been implemented, and there was not even much knowledge about what palliative care was."
John says the concept of health support was added to the mission because there were many in the community who had little or no family in Boquete and who would need support on a temporary basis when ill or post-operative. "In this way Boquete Hospice and Health Foundation was created with two care missions," says John.
It didn't take long for the founders to realize just how difficult it was going to be to establish a hospice in Panamá. It was a country where they were all living as foreigners, and where there was virtually no hospice tradition. Just conforming the concept to Panamanian law was a gigantic undertaking.
"We arrived in Boquete in 1999," Babbie recalls, "when there were about 30 expats here and most of us were without extended family and we wanted to support each other. We began researching to learn what customs and beliefs here influenced people's view of death and dying. We also needed to learn what laws governed the establishment of a hospice here. The Panamanian cultural idea was that suffering in dying was often expected and accepted here. This was a belief that John and I hoped to dispel."
On November 26, 2007, having met all the requirements for legal operation, BHH was born. The fledgling organization's first steps in early 2008 included identifying trainers; creating written materials and training modules for volunteers, administrators and the public; and raising public awareness of our mission.
Early on, it became apparent that our group could also become an important source of information about death and dying in Panamá, as well as related medical and legal matters. Over the years this informational and educational function has only grown in importance. We now serve as a reputable source for the community on many topics. BHH also offers all our systems, knowledge, and written materials to any community in Panamá that wishes to start a hospice.
The first training of volunteers was held in May 2008. Mary and the team had painstakingly created a training manual culled largely from generously donated US materials—which Mary had overhauled almost completely to conform to Panamanian law and local standards. They assembled a small team of talented trainers from their then much smaller expat community.
John and Babbie supervised an inaugural group of 18 trainers and trainees. Beverly Stearns was our first training coordinator and did this job for many years. "The training attracted many people with backgrounds relevant to hospice. People shared their expertise and everyone learned a lot," remembers Patient Care Coordinator Bev Tyler. "The plan was that members of the group would hit the ground running to create a home hospice when the need arose."
The group bought a cell phone and Bev began answering it. "One of our nurses knew an English-speaking obstetrician who agreed to be our medical director because he understood that we really needed him." As Bev recalls, "Hospice was a very foreign concept in Panamá and our medical director began to introduce it to the local doctors."
At that time, 18 volunteers were enough to attend to the needs of the much smaller expat community, and the organization had not yet begun outreach to the Panamanian population. As of Fall 2023, we have a roster of over 80 fully trained volunteers and we serve the entire greater district of Boquete.
It was the decision of the founders to initiate care by focusing on the expat community first. It was simply too much work to replicate everything in Spanish, and John Earle thinks the organization may never have gotten off the ground if we had tried to do that from the start.
Now things are quite different and almost everyone, expat or Panamanian, carries a cell phone with a translation app in their pocket or purse. Social media and machine translation have made it much easier for us to reach out to Panamanians in their native language.
We've also done a better job of targeting our messages to people who don't know what services we provide, or don't realize we provide them to ANYONE who lives in our service area. The result of this outreach has been an organic growth in the number of Panamanian callers for our services—currently about half our callers are Panamanians.
"We are the only hospice in the country," John reminds us. "A talented, knowledgeable and devoted group of people have over the years created an organization dedicated to helping their neighbors through education, providing services, and being there to assist during some of the most vulnerable, intimate, and stressful times in life."
BHH's services have expanded greatly. They now include providing home comfort such as food deliveries, running an informational website and social media pages, working with trained nurses, setting up a library, and purchasing medical equipment and loaning it out. We've also established our extremely important blood program, which includes holding two blood drives a year, and providing blood free of charge to all residents of the Boquete District. We've added our amazing music team and developed a regular schedule of public speakers and public trainings in CPR, preparing for the end of life, and other topics of interest.
To better reflect our array of services, in 2021, the organization started calling itself Boquete Health & Hospice. While the official name remains Boquete Hospice and Health Foundation, we feel the new name is more inclusive of ALL our services. We don't want people to think we are "only" about hospice.
"Babbie and I are ever grateful for all the amazing people, too numerous to list, who have kept Boquete Health & Hospice alive and flourishing," says John Earle. "Our hearts are filled with appreciation. The work of the organization has fulfilled and surpassed our original vision."
As Babbie says, "Not that we can plan our deaths, but we can all contemplate and incorporate various practices that might make our passing more peaceful for ourselves and our loved ones. John and I both felt it was a privilege to volunteer in hospices for forty years, both on various steering committees and sitting with patients."
John ends his reminiscence by expressing gratitude for all who have helped to implement his and Babbie's vision. "We are heartened by the continual support of our volunteers, our board members, administrators, nurses, trainers, and donors—all of whom make up this wonderful organization. We are so pleased that BHH continues to make a wonderful, positive contribution to our community."
By Deb Hornstra | | |
Thanks to
Our September Speaker,
Dr. Sunny Roe!
Boquete Health & Hospice was delighted to have Dr. Sunny Roe as the special guest speaker for this month's meeting.
| | | | Her presentation on "Caring for the Caregiver: What to Do When Overwhelm Takes Over" was very relevant for many of us as we are either caregivers now, have been at one time, or may be at some time in the future.
The primary focus of Dr. Sunny's presentation was how to avoid becoming overwhelmed and staying healthy and strong to be able to care for loved ones. She also shared a a handout with important tips for relieving stress and improving mitochondrial health; click below to see it.
Dr. Sunny concluded by saying, "Self-care is not optional if you want to have effective caregiving. You've got to put your own mask on and take care of yourself first, and I invite you to be grateful for the experience because there's no greater gift you can give to someone than your heart and your soul. "
If you missed the meeting, click the link below to view Dr. Sunny's presentation on YouTube; a transcript is also available in YouTube description. | | | Farewell from Craig Gatrel and John Ferguson
The farewell party held in August for Craig and John was packed with well-wishers, friends, and fellow volunteers. We will always be grateful for all Craig and John have done for BHH, and they will always hold a special place in our hearts. John and Craig asked us to share their thanks and it follows here:
¡Gracias por tres años maravillosos!
We would like to thank everyone at Boquete Health & Hospice for our terrific going away party! We had such a good time seeing everyone and eating way too much food. It really was a wonderful way to say good-bye to everyone. Thank you for all of the hard work and time you put into making the party a truly memorable event.
BHH has been an integral part of our lives while in Boquete, since we first moved here in the fall of 2019. Shortly after our arrival, Covid hit and we were locked down. It could have been a very lonely time as we knew no one. However, joining BHH in January 2020 allowed us develop contacts and make tremendous lasting friendships. Despite the lockdown precautions, we did not feel alone, as we knew we always had our BHH friends. BHH really made us feel like part of the community.
BHH provides such a wonderful and much needed service to the local community. It has been exciting to watch it grow both in terms of the services it offers and the family culture it continues to nurture for volunteers.
BHH is an amazing organization and family, which we are truly going to miss. We continue to wish BHH all the all the best for its success in the future. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of the BHH family!
¡Hasta luego!
John & Craig | | | Trivia Night at Tap Out Gains $355 for Oxygen Concentrators
BHH was thrilled to receive the $355 in proceeds from Trivia Night recently for the repair and purchase of portable oxygen concentrators. which are in great demand in our community.
| | | | We greatly appreciate the generous donations of the Trivia Night participants. And thanks, as always, to Brandy Minori, Trivia Night MC, for her support of BHH and so many other charitable organizations in Boquete! | | | Volunteer and Help Your Community!
What better way to learn about your new country and town than volunteering with the Boquete Health & Hospice organization? You will meet so many fun, dedicated people who will enrich your life tremendously. There are multiple opportunities with a wide variety of skills needed, but most of all, we want your smiling face and willingness to better the lives of all our neighbors, expat and Panamanian alike.
Take a look at our current volunteer opportunities: - If you have 2-4 hours a month to spare, the Respiratory team is for you! Members maintain and dispense oxygen concentrators at our equipment lockers and educate patient on the use of equipment. No medical background is necessary and training will be provided for all necessary duties.
- If you'd like to help coordinate training for our "Being Prepared for Emergencies and End of Life in Boquete" classes, the team could use your administrative and follow-up skills to deliver an important program that contains vital knowledge for Boquete Districts residents.
- Are you strong and able-bodied? Or do you own a truck? Or both? The Equipment teams could use your help to transport and set up the beds for hospice patients. Equipment loans and returns take 5-6 hours of time a month. The storage lockers are located at the Alto Dorado strip mall. Equipment and beds are maintained and cleaned before and after loans.
- Do you have expertise in writing, editing, or content creation for social media, websites, or newsletters? Or perhaps you have experience in graphics, fundraising/events, or donor relations. If so, put your skills to use as part of our Communications and Community Engagement teams.
- Do you speak Spanish and English? Bilingual volunteers for the Translation team are always needed to help make phone calls, help with translation for patients and volunteers, and translate written marketing and training materials. Volunteers may also help with hospice follow-up phone calls, thank you phone calls, and equipment recovery.
- If you enjoy meeting new people and have a talent for matching skills with needs, consider joining our Volunteer Coordination effort. You'll get to know potential volunteers and help match their backgrounds and interests with current opportunities, and ensure that volunteers have a rewarding experience with BHH.
How to Apply for a Volunteer Role: Complete and submit a membership application, which can be found here. We will contact you within a few days to discuss your interests and how we can work together. | | |
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