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March Letter from the CEO
Krystin Albert; RN, BSN
Franklin VNA & Hospice is honored to introduce our social workers Emerson Kelby, LICSW and Jess Arel, BSW. Together they provide a valuable service to all patients, caregivers, and community members. They help individuals navigate some of the most vulnerable and meaningful moments of life. By blending clinical skills with compassion and they play a critical role in ensuring that care is holistic, patient‑centered, and emotionally supportive.
Our social workers are advocates, ensuring each patient’s voice, values, and preferences are honored. Whether its coping with disease progression, functional decline, or end‑of‑life decisions, they help patients understand their options for care and treatment. Their advocacy ensures that the care provided aligns with the person’s cultural beliefs, dignity, and goals, essential for quality of life.
Their role includes providing emotional and psychosocial support. Chronic illness, disability, and the dying process can trigger a multitude of emotions as well as family conflict. Social workers can intervene by providing counseling, facilitate family meetings, and provide support for caregivers who are overwhelmed or experiencing burnout.
Social workers provide guidance through difficult situations. They talk about prognosis, end-of-life wishes, or advanced directives. Conversations allow patients to articulate goals of care, preferences for life-sustaining treatment, expression of hope, fears and expectations, and how the patient defines comfort and dignity. This creates a safe space where patients and families can speak openly and find greater peace with difficult decisions.
Our social workers will offer guidance and support for patients completing health care proxies, living wills, forms, and documentation of personal values and preferences. By facilitating these discussions early and compassionately, they help ensure that care reflects the patient’s wishes which reduces uncertainty and conflict later.
Social workers provide expertise in connecting patients and caregivers with community resources such as transportation, food delivery, or home modifications. They are knowledgeable on available financial assistance programs, Veteran or disability benefits, and provide a list of support groups and respite care providers. This service helps individuals avoid feeling overwhelmed and ensures that practical needs do not become barriers to effective care.
They help individuals preserve meaning and connection, encouraging legacy-building activities, supporting spiritual or existential exploration, and reducing caregiver burden. Social workers focus on enhancing the quality of life not just extending it. Encompassing the core values of comfort, dignity, and emotional peace, which has shown to improve the overall family well-being in home-based care and end-of-life care.
Social workers collaborate closely with the interdisciplinary team. They provide insights into family dynamics, identify unmet social or emotional needs, address barriers to care, and help build a comprehensive plan of care.
Social workers are the heart of compassion in Home Care and Hospice. Their ability to blend clinical skills with empathy ensures that patients and families are supported medically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. In moments of vulnerability, whether adjusting to chronic illness or facing life’s final chapter, social workers offer guidance, advocacy, and human connection. Their role is not only significant; it is indispensable.
Franklin VNA & Hospice is honored to be your choice provider for Home Health and Hospice services. Let our social workers assist you with your needs, build a trusting relationship and advocate in your best interest.
Thank you for choosing Franklin VNA and Hospice as your Home Health and Hospice agency and for sharing your experience with our services with others. It is because of you that we are able to continue to remain a small independent hometown agency.
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