Blog

Mother’s Day

May 5, 2015 by TRU Community Care

Mother’s Day Memorial Labyrinth & Luminaria Night

May 10, 2015
7:30-8:45 pm
Labyrinth at Boulder Community Health

Walk the labyrinth to the center, share a memory about your special person, take a flower, or just experience a moment of silence in honor of your mother, grandmother, aunt or any special loved woman in your life. All ages welcome and there will be a special program for children. Light refreshment will be served. This event is offered in collaboration with Boulder Community Health.

Registration is required. Contact Michon Davies at 303-604-5330 to register or fill out the Healing Circles Mother’s Day Registration Form and email to michondavies@trucare.org.

Mothers Day Luminary Event Flyer 2015

Spring

April 20, 2015 by TRU Community Care

All seasons have a beginning, middle and end, as do all feelings, even in grief. Sometimes the winter darkness, the flurries of holidays, and desire to be with our loved ones who are no longer with us, makes us forget that spring bring new growth, more light and changes.

Each season in grief has its own set of unique memories. Spring is often a time to start to create new ways of being. We clean out our closets, we make plans for the summer, we spend more time outside and we decide how we want to be in this season with our grief. Maybe we try something new? Maybe we plant flowers or trees in honor of our special person? Whatever it is we decide to do in spring, grief is with us and so is our special person. We do not forget them. The continuing bond we have is still there, ever changing as we continue to change in our grieving process. Hope is the courage that continues to guide us. Be gentle with our grief.

National Healthcare Decisions Day

April 16, 2015 by TRU Community Care

TRU Community Care, along with other national, state and community organizations, are highlighting the importance of advance health care decision making – an effort that has culminated in the formal designation of April 16 as National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD).

As a participating organization, we are providing information and tools for you to talk about your wishes with your family, friends and health care providers, as well as executing written advance directives. These resources are available at www.nhdd.org.

As a result of National Healthcare Decisions Day, many more people in our community can be expected to have thoughtful conversations about their health care decisions and complete reliable advance directives to make their wishes known. Fewer families and heath care providers will have to struggle with making difficult health care decisions in the absence of guidance from the patient.

Advance care planning allows consumers to make medical care decisions by considering those decisions ahead of time and letting others know about their end-of-life care decisions.

For more information about National Healthcare Decisions Day, please visit www.nhdd.org. You can also contact us for more information on advanced directives by calling 303.449.7740 or emailing info@trucare.org.

Advance Directives Flyer 2015

Spring Newsletter 2015

April 13, 2015 by TRU Community Care

Our most recent newsletter is here and full of news and updates for you! Click here to read our Spring Newsletter:

TRU Spring Newsletter

Click here to catch up on past newsletters

National Healthcare Decisions Day 2015

April 9, 2015 by TRU Community Care

We invite you to join us in this years National Healthcare Decisions Day on April 16^th. This date was purposely chosen to illustrate the point about the two inevitable things in life: death and taxes. We are often unaware of the multitude of decisions that may come into play if we are suddenly stricken by an accident or illness. Having documents and understandings in place that help our loved ones support our choices is critical, both legally and personally.

Advance Directives…

Allow you to retain control over what happens to you
Empower your loved ones with clear directions
Help medical personnel understand what you want
Support your loved ones in being able to focus on what is most important.

There are Starter Kits and advance directive documents available online, or you can visit the exhibits at Boulder Community Health and Longmont United Hospital between the hours of 11am-1pm. For more information on the importance choosing a decision-maker and having a conversation, please visit www.nhdd.org.

Advance Directives Flyer 2015

Volunteer Training May 2015

April 6, 2015 by TRU Community Care

TRU’s next volunteer training begins in May! We are actively trying to recruit volunteers willing to visit patients in our eastern and southern territories (Broomfield, Westminster, Thornton, Northglenn, Arvada, etc.). If you or someone you know is interested, please contact Volunteer Services for more information.

Click here for more information on our volunteer training!

May 2015 Training

Core Training (All sessions must be attended):

Session 1: Tuesday, May 12^th 4:00pm – 7:30pm
Session 2: Thursday, May 14^th 4:00pm – 7:30pm
Session 3: Saturday, May 16^th 9:00am – 3:30pm

Specialized Training (must attend the training for your specific role):

Patient Care 1: Tuesday, May 19^th 4:00pm – 7:30pm
Patient Care 2: Thursday, May 21^st 4:00pm – 7:30pm

Care Shawl Volunteers

March 25, 2015 by TRU Community Care

We are currently looking for volunteers to participate in our Care Shawl group. If you knit (any skill level welcome) and would like to be part of a team that makes beautiful Care Shawls for our patients, please contact Karlene, Manager of Volunteer Services at (303) 442-0961 or by email at volunteer@trucare.org.

Volunteers are an essential part of the TRU Community Care team. Every year our volunteers assist in giving our patients and families the best emotional, spiritual, and practical support available; lend valuable administrative assistance to the organization; and play a key role at the TRU Hospice Thrift Shop. TRU Community Care encompasses a continuum of care for those with advanced illness.

February

February 25, 2015 by TRU Community Care

By TRU Grief Services

The groundhog saw his shadow and six more weeks of winter was predicted. Valentine’s Day came and went and the grocery stores were drenched in flowers and chocolate. Snow comes and goes quickly as it comes and spring is not quite here. But for me, the word that comes to mind is yearning. In grief we yearn for what is just out of reach, for what was and not for what is in the present moment. It is what we long for again. The longing, the ache in the heart and body, is part of the grieving process and it is sometimes difficult to give ourselves the compassion to feel and accept it.

When I yearn for the person who has died, I have to give myself the compassion to accept that and permission to cope in whatever way works in the present moment. Our clinical supervisor defined compassion as the “deep awareness of the suffering of another with the desire to relieve it.” For the month of February, I ask myself: can I give myself the gift of self-love and compassion to accept my grief? If my special person who died were sitting next to me now, what would s/he say to me? Can I receive compassion? Does it take away the yearning for my loved one during Valentine’s Day? No, but compassion is a gentle reminder to not judge the process or the feelings that go along with missing the person who has died. I continue to yearn.

Image courtesy of Eric Stensland Fine Art Photography

Healing Circles Glass Memories Teen Grief Group

January 29, 2015 by TRU Community Care

Healing Circles Glass Memories Grief Group 2015

Our Grief and Glass workshop is a new three month series in February, March, April 2015.This workshop is for teens ages 13-18 who have had a death loss and want to remember their special person by creating some glass art. These workshops are in collaboration with C&H Glassworks & Ambrosia Glass.

Hot glassblowing requires communication, collaboration, working as a team and learning to trust yourself and others to maintain safety, creativity and being in the present moment. The medium of glass is similar to the grief journey with lots of changes, different reactions to situations and things take time to form, mold and transform from one form into the completed piece.

The group is a peer support group to talk about remembering your special person who has died, sharing photos and stories about that person as well as how things have changed, what has helped you with those changes and how everyone grieves differently.

The group will learn glass blowing safety skills, how to marver, blow, shape and manipulate the glass with some color application. They will learn how to make a bowl, an ornament and a paper weight.

The maximum number for this group is eight and there is a registration interview required with both teen and parent/guardian prior to acceptance.

For more information, call Michon Davies at 303-604-5330.

About the Instructors:
The workshop is facilitated by Laura McCracken & Michon Davies, MA. Laura is a glass artist and school art teacher of 20 years currently teaching in Lakewood. Michon has a background in counseling since 1993 and is an apprentice at C & H glassworks and Angelo Ambrosia glass. Both Michon and Laura have also had training at Pilchuk and Penland glass school.

Download the flyer here:
Teen Grief Glass Group 2015

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May 2015 Training

Image courtesy of Eric Stensland Fine Art Photography

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