Hospice of Santa Barbara
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Hospice of Santa Barbara, Inc. is a Volunteer Hospice Organization, which means we volunteer our professional services to anyone experiencing the impact of a life-threatening illness, or grieving the death of a loved one.
Hospice of Santa Barbara
1y ago
Ann Smithcors
This month is Ann’s 40-year anniversary as a volunteer with HSB! More impressive than the quantity of time she has served, is the quality of compassionate care she has provided over the years.
Here is a little bit about Ann and what brought her to Hospice of Santa Barbara (HSB) – Ann came to volunteer at HSB in 1982 after a lengthy career as a nurse and midwife in three countries. She saw firsthand the good work that volunteers did throughout her career. So, when she retired, she felt it was time for her to begin her volunteer career.
Ann has shared that she feels it is a privil ..read more
Hospice of Santa Barbara
1y ago
When Death Comes
When death comes
like the hungry bear in autumn;
when death comes and takes all the bright coins from his purse
to buy me, and snaps the purse shut;
when death comes
like the measle-pox
when death comes
like an iceberg between the shoulder blades,
I want to step through the door full of curiosity, wondering:
what is it going to be like, that cottage of darkness?
And therefore I look upon everything
as a brotherhood and a sisterhood,
and I look upon time as no more than an idea,
and I consider eternity as another possibility,
and I think of ea ..read more
Hospice of Santa Barbara
1y ago
Slow Grief
My grief has yet to peak
A strange place, to see it coming,
Approaches so slow you can be fooled
Into believing it’s not already there.
Yet it creeps in at moments
When the guard is out to lunch
And you sit there naked to the shadow
Like the beast that slouched toward Bethlehem.
It’s okay, I think, to bear the sadness
As it builds and morphs from yet to be
Into here it is, and not to be denied
Then the polite shadow gently invites me to dance.
As I consider this proposal from
The inevitable host in darkness
I know in some part of my being
That light and dark are eternal partners ..read more
Hospice of Santa Barbara
1y ago
When you hold that new baby in your arms
revel in the miracle of being
When you get angry that your child does something disappointing
revel in the opportunity to teach
When you cry because you have been hurt by a bad decision
revel in the ability to mend a broken heart
When you are happy for the joy you see in others
revel in the need to witness
When you lose someone and all that is left of them is love
revel in the chance to give that love away
Elizabeth Link is a retired Registered Nurse; having spent the last 28 years at SBCH Eye Center. She has been on 25 mission trips with SEE Internat ..read more
Hospice of Santa Barbara
1y ago
PERSONAL
MOST CERTAINLY.
& UNIVERSAL
& TRANSPERSONAL
PERHAPS BECAUSE
ALL 3
ARE PRESENT IN OUR
GOOD GRIEF! GROUP,
WE ARE ALL BECOMING BETTER.
BETTER @ BEARING OUR GRIEF,
BETTER @ BARING OUR GRIEF,
BETTER @ BECOMING
WHO WE ARE
NOW
W/OUT WHO WAS THEN
THERE
& IS NOT
THERE NOW
For more than 35 years, award and grant recipient architect Gale Beth Goldberg has been designing a wide variety of projects in California and Massachusetts. She is a published book & articles’ author. As an enthusiastic educator, she taught at all levels of public schooling and assisted in teaching gradu ..read more
Hospice of Santa Barbara
1y ago
As we begin to gather in person most of us are experiencing a variety of emotions.
At Hospice of Santa Barbara, we work with grief which, similarly to these times, comes with a mix of strong emotions that can be confusing and overwhelming. One of the things we know that helps is to name the feelings, to give them some space rather than trying to push them away or deny them. So let us harness the transformative power of naming emotions and challenges, of acknowledging them together.
Most of us are feeling excitement about seeing people we treasure, the possibility of travel, the ability d ..read more
Hospice of Santa Barbara
1y ago
What a perfect title for this article and the message that I am about to share with you. You are unlikely to hear about this anywhere else, unless you have a relative or friend that resides at Oak Cottage, a Memory Care Assisted Living Community here in Santa Barbara.
Back in March of 2020 when awareness of COVID-19 began to surface, I felt it was important to reach out to our colleagues in long term care settings, just to offer moral support and ask what major issues were emerging. As Community Engagement Manager for Hospice of Santa Barbara, that was a very natural extension of m ..read more
Hospice of Santa Barbara
1y ago
We’re dancing to the Bee Gee’s song: How Deep is Your Love? I’m at home in your strong arms. I nuzzle up to your neck. I feel you. I smell you. I breathe deep because I want more. I lay my head on your shoulder. I nuzzle in deeper rubbing my cheeks from side to side on your neck and well-worn shirt; you delight in my movements. Your arms still around me you bring me in even closer - we keep dancing. I never want to let go. I miss you so much. You tell me you will always be there for me - waiting on the dance floo ..read more
Hospice of Santa Barbara
1y ago
Grief layered over grief this year, what else can you do but probe the darkness, for the next move. The clock blinks, shifts ahead, something to count on like light easing through window blinds. You notice across the street, trees turned brilliant with your own tossing, the Gingko’s gold dome as if Midas dropped by, the crimson splash of liquid amber. December’s gifts though 2020 has left you beside yourself. Where do you go from here, day’s first Zoom? as if months haven’t flown since Covid confined you at home? Do our loved ones wonder what happened, looking down or up a ..read more
Hospice of Santa Barbara
1y ago
Pork Chops or Chicken in Salsa
I remember the meals
that were so tasty.
How did she do that?
I can make a new meal from scratch now,And it doesn’t really taste bad, at all.
How did she make that delicious meal?
I would peel the potatoes and she would
get a pot and put the potatoes, tomato sauce, add water, Sausage, a little garlic clove, green olives, and either pork chops or chicken breast strips. And then, there were other items she added. What were those additional spices?
I use Sazon, and salt and pepper now.You know, it’s not the same. But really, what is?
Manuel Figueroa is  ..read more