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Complementary Therapies and Special Programs Offered by Rice Hospice
Complementary therapies and special programs at Rice Hospice include grief counseling and support groups, music enjoyment, healing touch, massage therapy, Canine Care for the Journey, and the Sentimental Journey Program.
These special therapies and programs are not substitutes for traditional health care. Instead, they enhance and complement the care prescribed by the healthcare team.
Healing Touch is a noninvasive technique that uses the hands to clear, energize, and balance energy fields affecting physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health and healing. It can help reduce pain, anxiety, stress, and restlessness. It can also be supportive during the dying process.
To schedule a Healing Touch session, or to learn more, please contact your Rice Hospice nurse or social worker. This service is at no cost if arranged for by the Rice Hospice team.
Massage is the manipulation of the soft tissues of the body with the hands done for therapeutic intent.
Benefits of massage include improving the flow of blood and lymph fluids in the body; reducing heart rate and blood pressure; and, decreasing muscle tension and feelings of stress. It helps meet the human need for caring and affirmative touch, and induces the relaxation response.
Please contact your Rice Hospice nurse or social worker to schedule a massage therapy session. Limited massages are available at no cost if arranged for by the Rice Hospice team.
Music can be used as a healing agent to decrease pain, stress, anxiety and fears. Music can help lower blood pressure, decrease heart rate, structure breathing, and enhance lung capacity. The body is naturally rhythmic through the heart beat, pulse, and breathing.
Music can include listening to favorite tapes or CDs, hymns, old love songs, soothing piano music, sounds of nature, classical music, and popular tunes. It can include composing music to express feelings, or singing songs to encourage storytelling. It may involve families singing together. Music can be a powerful tool to provide comfort, promote healing, and to bring families together.
Please contact your Rice Hospice nurse or social worker to schedule a music session. This service is at no cost if arranged for by the Rice Hospice Team.
Canine Care for the Journey is the Rice Hospice Therapy Dog Program which provides comfort, support and animal companionship to hospice patients and their families. All dogs accepted into the program are American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizens and are registered with Therapy Dogs Incorporated. Therapy dog handlers are Rice Hospice trained volunteers.
Therapy dog visits may reduce loneliness, offer entertainment and distraction, and are often a welcome change from routine. Therapy dogs are currently available in all of the areas that Rice Hospice serves.
Please contact your Rice Hospice nurse or social worker to schedule a therapy dog visit. This service is at no cost if arranged for by the Rice Hospice team.
The Sentimental Journey Program is a joint venture between Rice Hospice and Willmar Ambulance Service to grant one last journey to patients who require medical assistance in order to travel. The journey could be that last visit to the family homestead, the ability to attend a special event, such as a wedding, or an opportunity to say good-bye to something or someone dear. > more
Each family is supported after the death of their loved one for more than a year. This may include one-on-one visits from volunteers, support groups - especially near the holidays, and counseling for adults, as well as children. Once or twice each year, Rice Hospice and The Grief Center sponsor a one-day program for children in grades K-6, called Camp G.K. Bear to help children cope with the death of a significant person.