SULLIVAN - Kathryn Duncan and Lynn Berner talk and laugh like old friends. They even own matching Christmas shirts. But the two women met just one month ago when Berner became Duncan’s hospice nurse. On Wednesday, Berner, who works for St. John’s Home Health and Hospice, delivered Duncan a plate heaped with homemade cookies and treats at Eastview Terrace, the long-term nursing facility where she lives. The baking, done by St.
John’s staff and volunteers, is a holiday tradition meant to brighten the lives of hospice patients and their families at what can be a very trying time of year, volunteer coordinator Sister Chaminade Kelley said. “It is a special time of year that’s sentimental in a very real way - not just a soupy sentimental but very family oriented,” Kelley said.
“Memories of people, loved ones - all that comes back in putting that Christmas tree up and the ornaments and what they represent ¦ I think in many ways this whole process brings one more to the reality of the temporariness of life and the inevitability of death.” Berner also gave plates of cookies to the Eastview Terrace staff and her other hospice patients who live there. Director of nursing Bryon Denton said the gesture is a simple act of kindness appreciated by staff and patients alike.
Duncan reacted with surprise when Berner set the colorful plate of cookies on her lap. She wasn’t sure if they were for her. She smiled and thanked Berner. Later, Duncan, whose breast cancer has spread, said she is ready for an end to her pain. “Kathryn is very open to talk about dying,” Berner said, “and she’s ready, where not everybody is that open about it. But we try and tell people that it’s not about the dying part.