NewsLine - June 2013 - (Page 43)

Run to Remember: A Look at Two Special Kentucky Bourbon Chase Runners One Man Runs in Honor of His Brother Who The 12-person team has come up with an impressive array of creative fund-raising ideas. Sought to Turn Personal Adversity into Positive Change for Others Breeding and her colleagues will be Arjit and Sourav Guha Sourav Guha will join the Run to Remember family this fall as he and 11 of his friends take on the Bourbon Chase. The race is a 200-mile overnight relay along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. The group will be running in honor of Guha’s brother, Arijit, who died of metastatic colon cancer earlier this year: www.active.com/donate/ runtoremember2013/souravguha. Arijit was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in 2011, shortly after his 30th birthday, while a graduate student at Arizona State University. After less than a year of treatment, he reached the lifetime coverage cap on his student health policy. Always a resourceful activist and relentless advocate on behalf of himself and others, Arijit created a website (poopstrong.org) to raise awareness of his situation and funds for his treatment. participating in a weekend festival held by one of their physical therapy clinics. They plan to raise funds at the festival through a silent auction, offering pay-per-minute massages and selling tickets to employees for a chance to throw a pie in the face of their managers. Additional fund-raising efforts of the team include: Facing medical bankruptcy, but keenly aware that his situation was not dissimilar from that of many others, Arijit also took to social networks to demand better coverage and received international press coverage of his successful campaign. As a result, the insurance company agreed to extend their coverage of his medical bills. • Selling chocolates for a local chocolate factory in Lexington, KY • Working at a portable stand at local minor league baseball games • Hosting bake sales • Holding a charity Hip Hop Hustle aerobics class • Organizing a Cornhole Tournament Arjit and his wife, Heather, were able to donate the more than $130,000 they had raised to a variety of cancer-related charities assisting those in financial need. Grateful for opportunity to help others, Arijit always emphasized that his personal victory should only be considered the beginning of a much broader movement. He was proud that the attention he received as an individual was part of a much larger national conversation about inequities in healthcare access in American society. With all of these creative efforts, there is no doubt team “Don’t Pull a Hammy” will reach their goal of raising $6,000 for NHF and Hospice of the Bluegrass. Their donation page is www.active.com/donate/ runtoremember2013/teamdrayer. Toward the end of 2012, with his tumors having further metastasized, Arijit made the difficult decision to end treatment. At the beginning of this year, he began receiving palliative home care from Hospice of the Valley in Phoenix. He passed away peacefully, with his wife and his hospice nurse by his side, in March. Arijit faced life and death with passion and a sense of humor and perspective. NHF wishes Sourav, Christina, their teams and all Run to Remember participants the best of luck in their race and fundraising goals! You too can run any race at any pace to raise funds for hospice. Visit www.nationalhospice foundation/runtoremember.org to learn more about NHF’s signature fundraising and race training program. “Wherever he went,” says Sourav, “fun and friends were sure to surround him, so the Bourbon Chase seems a fitting way to remember and honor Arijit. He encountered every situation in life with positivity and gratitude, and I would like for all of us who loved and admired him to try to do the same. We are so grateful for the care and respect that he and we received from Hospice of the Valley, and in particular from his nurse, Cheryl Amburgey, and social worker, Ray Unks.” Christina Breeding with Lexington Legends mascot Team “Don’t Pull a Hammy” Pulls Out All the Stops for Creative Fundraising Christina Breeding will also be participating in the Bourbon Chase in October as team captain for Drayer Physical Therapy Institute. Team “Don’t Pull a Hammy” will be raising funds for NHF and Hospice of the Bluegrass, which cared for both of Christina’s grandfathers at the end of their lives. “I want others to experience the same comforting care and have the opportunity to be at home with the people they love the most in those final moments. Running this race in memory [of my grandparents] is one way I can do that,” said Christina. A newsletter of the National Hospice Foundation | Spring 2013 5 http://www.active.com/donate/runtoremember2013/souravguha http://www.active.com/donate/runtoremember2013/souravguha http://www.poopstrong.org http://www.active.com/donate/runtoremember2013/teamdrayer http://www.active.com/donate/runtoremember2013/teamdrayer http://www.runtoremember.org/ http://www.runtoremember.org/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NewsLine - June 2013

Orchestrating Complex Care
A Message From Don
Determining Caseloads
MLC Conference Sponsors (display ad)
Quality on Display
Glatfelter Healthcare Practice (display ad)
PT in Hospice
Simione Consulting (display ad)
NHPCO Affinity Program (display ad)
Award Winners Recognized at MLC
2014 Circle of Life Call for Nominations
Member News
Compliance Tip
New Online Courses from NHPCO’s E-OL
Videos Worth Watching
News From NHF

NewsLine - June 2013