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End of Life

The end of life is an experience all human beings share. We may experience it quickly with little manner, the end of life is an inevitable event that affects not only the individual, but also their loved ones and other members of the community. Hospice Services are one way that people with life-limiting illnesses and their significant others can acquire support during the final stages of their life. Support Services are available in hospitals, for in-home services, long-term care and assisted living settings.

Those who are grieving from the loss of a loved one also need support and relief. The organizations listed below may help you locate support.

END OF LIFE CARE AND SUPPORT

Center for Attitudinal Healing and the Arts
Dan Comstock, Director, 728-6501
www.cahamt.org
Peer support using the principles of attitudinal healing. The idea is to learn tools to find peace while going through the healing process. Open support groups as well as grief support. Support groups are free. Workshops also available.

End-of-Life Registry (formerly Choices Bank)
P.O. Box 201410, Helena, 59620-1410
(866)675-3314 or (406)444-0660 or Fax (406)444-9680
www.endoflife.mt.gov; endofliferegistry@mt.gov

St. Patrick Hospital Center for Health Information
500 W. Broadway, 329-5710

The End-of-Life-Registry is in the Dept of Justice, Office of Consumer Protection and Victim Services. The Choices Bank was originally created by the Life’s End Institute and sponsored by St. Patrick Hospital and Heath Sciences Center. Missoula legislators proposed a bill in 2005 to create and maintain a secure, online registry accessible to health care providers and families throughout the state.

As with Choices Bank, using the Montana End-of-Life Registry is free of charge. To view your advance directive in the Registry, you use the same name and access code that is on your existing Choices Bank wallet card. You do not need a new card. The updated My Choices Advance Directive form is still available for your use, either from the registry’s website or from the Center at St. Pat’s.

For information and assistance in completing your advance directive you are invited to go to the Center for Health Information (Medical Library) at St Patrick Hospital, located on the first level of the Broadway Building. The library staff will witness and notarize your advance directive and forward it to the End-of-Life-Registry in Helena.

The Registry is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so help is always available should you or your family have question in an emergency.

Hospice Link 1-800-331-1620
Hours: 9:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. eastern time.
Providing information for hospice services in other areas of the country.

Hospice of Missoula
800 Kensington St., Ste., 204 543-4408
A charitable hospice providing physical, emotional, and spiritual care at end of life. Patients are cared for by a team of physicians, nurses, home aides, chaplain, music-thanatologist, and social worker. Hospice care serves the patients and their family; bereavement support is also provided.

Partners Hospice and Palliative Care Services
2687 Palmer St., Ste. B, 728-8848
We are a non-profit, 501 C3 organization that has been providing hospice care to the Missoula community and western Montana since 1987. We provide comprehensive, active health care by specially trained professionals in pain/symptom management, spiritual support, counseling, personal care, volunteer, and bereavement services. Our mission is to enhance the quality of life’s end. We provide education and support allowing the family or caregivers to actively participate in caring for the patient. We also help loved ones and caregivers cope with the loss after death. We offer complimentary Hospice & Palliative Care consultations 7 days a week.

Storykeepers Contact Susie Risho at 549-0752
Trains family members, health care workers and others to gather a person’s life story at the end of life. Provides services to record life stories.

Strings of Peace Music - Thanatology Services, 546-4127
A palliative service for individuals at the end of life which provides care through the delivery of live prescriptive music, using harp and voice. Patients and families can benefit from one or a series of music vigils during the process of an approaching death, as well as when death becomes imminent. Call for more information or to make patient referrals. Fee charged for services.

BEREAVEMENT & LOSS SUPPORT GROUPS

Bereavement Support Services
Partners Hospice, 2687 Palmer St., Ste. B
Contact Gretchen Strohmaier, Bereavement Coordinator at 327-3624
Bereavement support groups for those grieving the death of a friend or loved one are offered multiple times throughout the year. These eight- week groups are free and open to the public. They include education about grief and give participants an opportunity to share their own experiences. Individual bereavement counseling, education and referral are also available. Call for specific times and dates.

Tamarack Grief Resource Center
336 W. Spruce St., 721-2860
www.tamarackgriefresourcecenter.org
Housed in the Center for Integrative Care, Grief Resources provides stabilizing and compassionate assistance for children, teens, adults and families amidst bereavement, loss and life transitions. Individual and group counseling, caregiver support, parent support and education, grief camps, and professional workshops available.

Healing Hearts for Moms
Contact Judy at 549-8482 or Phyllis at 549-4333
This is a caring support group for mothers who have had children die. We meet each month and help each other through the hardest thing a mother ever has to deal with - the death of their child. We cry together, encourage each other, and give a lot of support. Our purpose is to help each other deal with grief and then to move on and make life meaningful again.

H.O.P.E.
1621 South Ave W., 543-2890
www.anewsong.org/hope.html
A group for the mutual support of those who have lost someone to suicide.

A New Song
A Resource Center for Grief, Loss and Life Transitions
1621 South Ave. W., 543-2890 www.anewsong.org
A New Song offers materials relating to death, bereavement, depression, suicide, divorce and separation, elder care and chronic illness. Materials are available for people of all ages. Books, brochures, videos, audiotapes, and CDs are available from the lending library at no charge.

FUNERAL ASSISTANCE

Cremation Burial Society of the Rockies
Corner of Reserve & Spurgin 543-5595

MISSOULA AREA FUNERAL HOMES

Garden City Funeral Home
1705 W. Broadway 543-4190

Livingston Malletta Geraghty
224 W. Spruce St. 543-3137

Sunset Memorial Funeral Home
7405 Mullan Rd. 549-2857