Our Journey.
Written by Laury Wallace (Co Founder & Nurse Practitioner at Life’s Journey)
Over ten years ago, while working in hospice as a nurse, I realized a need for a place where hospice patients could go when their symptoms became unmanageable at home or the caregiver needed a break. Inpatient hospice care offers this in the hospital or long-term care setting, or, in a hospice house if the hospice company itself has one. However, most hospice companies do not have hospice inpatient facilities. Hospitals and long-term care, while excellent in the care they give, are not trained as hospice caregivers or in the hospice philosophy. A gap existed in the options we offer to the dying patient.
Together with my husband Bob, who has over 45 years of healthcare operations and management experience, we began our “journey” to create such a place. A place where ALL hospice patients from ANY hospice company can come when they are in need of symptom management, respite care, or routine private-pay care. A place that has specially trained hospice staff who embrace the hospice philosophy with an environment that provides peaceful, large spaces for family and caregivers. A place where hospice companies can feel at ease when admitting their patients there. We want to work with every company, their staff, and their patients to provide excellent, fluent transition of care. The patient will continue to see their current providers while in our facility. We feel it is crucial to respect each companies mission and plan of care so that the patient does not experience the confusion that can come with transferring their location of care.
Once we became hospice caregivers, we knew we would spend the rest of our lives devoting our service to end-of-life care. Every human deserves the love and dignity of a peaceful passing and it will be our fervent mission to provide that in the way they prefer, in a very well-planned environment designed to do so.
Years of praying along with hard work developing and planning have brought us to where we are today. Believe me, we have had our times of frustration, disappointments, setbacks, partnership breaks, negativity, and pain along the way. Many seasons of working two and three jobs to keep this dream alive. However, God always sent the right people to help us stay afloat at the right time and we will always be indebted to those who answered His call. We have been so incredibly blessed with financial and business partners who believed in our mission and have helped us build this dream. We will strive to do whatever we can to serve the dying patient with dignity, love, respect, and honor.
We are not a faith-affiliated organization, but we are a faith-based organization. We honor God in all we do and are thankful for the duty He has entrusted to us to care for the dying patient.
The Services We Provide.
Life’s Journey of Avon provides non-core services for GIP, Respite, and Private Pay care and Hospice Care in Avon, Indiana. The mission of our inpatient care model is to serve ALL hospice patients, no matter who they have chosen as their hospice provider. Settings that currently provide these services, such as a Skilled Nursing Facility or a Hospital, have different core missions than hospice. We fervently believe in giving hospice patients and their caregivers a place that embraces, respects, and focuses on end-of-life care exclusively.
Our company embodies the hospice providers philosophy by encompassing different provider’s approach and core values. The carefully designed environment provides ample space, satisfying the needs of hospice patients, their loved ones, as well as your needs as the provider.
In our facility, we will be providing hospice-based care to the GIP/Respite/Private Pay patient as determined by the hospice provider, who maintains full control over that care. Our staff will be specially trained in the hospice philosophy. Our team will be fully prepared to manage symptoms while addressing physiological, psychosocial, and spiritual needs. They will serve as an extension of your team and your plan of care that is not often seen in other settings.
In short, we want to be YOUR hospice house!
What Makes Us Different
Life’s Journey of Avon believes in a different approach to Hospice care. Every patient has different needs and a different idea on how they want to handle those needs. We ask the right questions and listen to the answers. We recognize everyone is an individual and that their needs differ from all others. Because of that, we tailor your care plan with you, not for you.
“Becoming a hospice patient doesn’t mean you are giving up on life, but embracing it on your terms.”
The Facility
We designed our facility for the hospice patient, their families, and the hospice provider. Family members and other loved ones can spend the night in our large (over 400 sf) private rooms. Each room accesses its own private patio, on which the bed if needed, can be wheeled out so the patient can enjoy the sun on their face or the wind in their hair if desired. Each room is set up like a studio apartment with their own private bath, and a kitchen area with table and chairs. Also, the beds can be lowered into a “chair” position so if someone can’t get out of bed they can still feel as though they are part of the group and not the subject of the group.
Located directly across the street from IU West Hospital provides convenient and easy access from Indianapolis and all surrounding areas.
We are proud to cater our services to the areas of Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion, Morgan, Putnam, Shelby.