Veteran-Centered Hospice Care
Honoring Service. Personalizing Care. Preserving Legacy.
At Heartsong Hospice, caring for a Veteran means understanding more than a medical diagnosis.
Military service can shape a person’s identity, relationships, health, and end-of-life experience. Our Veteran-Centered Hospice Care Program helps us provide care that recognizes each Veteran’s service, respects personal experiences, and supports the entire family.
Heartsong Hospice is honored to currently care for several Veterans throughout the Midlands and to have cared for many Veterans and their families over the years. Those experiences continue to shape our commitment to providing hospice care that recognizes the unique needs, experiences, and sacrifices of those who served.
Every Veteran has a different story. Some are proud to talk about their service, while others prefer privacy. Some want to be formally recognized, while others simply appreciate a quiet thank-you.
We listen first and build the plan of care around the Veteran’s wishes.
“They served our country with courage. It is our honor to serve them with compassion.”
Honoring Veterans From Every Branch of Service
Our Commitment to Veterans
Every Veteran admitted to Heartsong Hospice is offered the opportunity to:
- Have their military service identified and considered in their plan of care
- Receive care that respects military culture and personal preferences
- Discuss health conditions or concerns that may be related to military exposures
- Be recognized for their service in a meaningful and appropriate way
- Participate in our Veteran Recognition Program
- Preserve important memories through a personalized legacy project
- Receive help connecting with appropriate Veteran and community resources
- Discuss military funeral honors and memorial benefits
- Receive emotional, spiritual, social work, and bereavement support for the entire family
Participation is always voluntary. Veterans and families may accept, decline, or change their preferences at any time.
Care Designed Around Each Veteran
Understanding the Person Behind the Uniform
Our team begins by learning about the Veteran’s military service and, more importantly, what that service means to the Veteran today.
When appropriate, we may ask about branch of service, military era, rank, occupation, deployments, and other experiences the Veteran wishes to share.
One of the most important questions we can ask is:
“Is there anything about your military service that would help us provide better care?”
The answer may help our team understand what brings comfort, what may cause distress, and how we can approach personal care more respectfully.
Preferences might include knocking before entering, explaining care before touching, reducing loud noises, having a family member present, or requesting a male or female caregiver when possible.
This information can become part of the Veteran’s interdisciplinary plan of care so that everyone caring for the Veteran understands and respects those preferences.
Trauma-Informed Hospice Care
Military experiences can continue to affect a Veteran many years after service.
Serious illness, loss of independence, unfamiliar caregivers, medications, loud sounds, nighttime confusion, or changes in surroundings can sometimes bring back difficult memories or emotions.
Our staff receive education in areas including:
- Military culture
- Post-traumatic stress
- Moral injury
- Military sexual trauma
- Military environmental exposures
- Trauma-informed care
We do not pressure Veterans to discuss painful experiences.
We listen without judgment, explain what we are doing, ask permission before providing care, and protect each Veteran’s dignity.
Understanding Military Environmental Exposures
Some Veterans may have illnesses or health concerns associated with exposures that occurred during military service.
These may include Agent Orange, burn pits, contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, Gulf War environmental hazards, asbestos, radiation, jet fuel, and other occupational or environmental exposures.
Heartsong Hospice does not determine whether an illness is service connected or determine eligibility for VA benefits.
Our role is to recognize important information, document what the Veteran wishes to share, and help Veterans and families connect with appropriate VA representatives, county Veterans Affairs offices, or accredited Veterans Service Officers when assistance is requested.
“Some Veterans tell their stories. Some carry them quietly. We honor them both.”
The Heartsong Veteran Recognition Program
It Is Our Honor to Serve Those Who Served
Every Veteran deserves gratitude, but recognition should always be personal.
Some Veterans appreciate a formal ceremony surrounded by family and friends. Others prefer a quiet moment of recognition. Some may choose not to participate at all.
The Veteran decides.
Depending upon the Veteran’s wishes and the circumstances, recognition may include:
- A Heartsong Veteran Recognition Ceremony
- A Veteran recognition pin
- A Heartsong challenge coin
- A certificate of appreciation
- Military music
- Chaplain participation
- Family involvement
- Recognition by a fellow Veteran when available
Recognition ceremonies may take place wherever the Veteran calls home, including a private residence, assisted living community, or nursing facility.
Our goal is simple: to create a meaningful moment of recognition for the Veteran and a lasting memory for the family.
The Heartsong Veterans Legacy Project
Every Veteran Has a Story Worth Preserving
A recognition ceremony honors service in the present. A legacy project can help preserve a Veteran’s story for future generations.
Veterans and families may choose to create a personalized project such as:
- A recorded life story or military service interview
- An audio or video message
- Letters to children or grandchildren
- A military scrapbook or memory book
- A collection of photographs
- A memory box
- A family history or military timeline
Legacy work is never rushed.
The Veteran decides what to share, what to keep private, and who may receive the completed materials.
A Veteran does not need to discuss combat or difficult experiences to participate. Stories about childhood, family, friendships, military training, travel, work, values, humor, and life lessons can be just as meaningful.
Connecting Veterans and Families With Resources
Veterans and families sometimes have questions about available benefits and resources or simply do not know where to begin.
Our social workers can help identify questions and connect families with appropriate resources regarding topics such as:
VA resources and benefits • Aid and Attendance • caregiver resources • survivor benefits • military service records • burial benefits • military funeral honors • government headstones or markers
Heartsong does not determine VA eligibility or approve benefits. When additional assistance is needed, we can help connect families with qualified VA staff, county Veterans Affairs offices, accredited Veterans Service Officers, funeral homes, and other appropriate organizations.
Support for the Entire Veteran Family
Military service affects families as well as Veterans.
Spouses, children, and caregivers may have experienced deployments, separations, injuries, emotional changes, and years of caregiving.
Heartsong supports Veteran families through:
- Education about the hospice process
- Emotional and spiritual support
- Caregiver support
- Social work services
- Chaplain services
- Recognition and legacy activities
- Guidance regarding military funeral honors
- Bereavement support following the Veteran’s death
Our bereavement team continues supporting eligible family members for up to 13 months following a patient’s death.
A Team Approach to Veteran Care
Veteran-centered care is not separate from hospice care at Heartsong. It is incorporated into the Veteran’s interdisciplinary plan of care.
Our nurses and hospice aides provide pain and symptom management while respecting documented care preferences and trauma-informed needs.
Our social workers assist Veterans and families with emotional support, community and Veteran resources, legacy planning, recognition activities, and end-of-life planning.
Our chaplains provide spiritual support, life review, grief support, recognition ceremony participation, and care that respects each Veteran’s individual beliefs.
Our volunteers provide companionship and may assist with recognition and legacy activities. As Veteran volunteers are available, Veterans may also have opportunities for companionship with someone who has served.
Our Medical Director and interdisciplinary team regularly review each Veteran’s needs, goals, preferences, and plan of care.
The Heartsong Promise to Veterans
Every Veteran deserves to be recognized, respected, and remembered.
At Heartsong Hospice, we will:
- Honor your service.
- Listen to your story.
- Respect your experiences.
- Protect your dignity.
- Personalize your care.
- Support your family.
- Preserve your legacy.
- Connect you with available resources.
- Walk beside you through your final journey.
“Honor their service. Listen to their story. Protect their dignity. Preserve their legacy.”
Frequently Asked Questions
It Is Our Honor to Serve Those Who Served
Heartsong Hospice is a locally owned and operated, CHAP-accredited hospice serving the Midlands and surrounding South Carolina communities.
We are honored to currently care for Veterans in our community and to have cared for many Veterans and their families over the years.
Our team provides compassionate hospice care, 24-hour clinical support, and personalized services designed around the needs and wishes of each Veteran and family.
We believe Veterans deserve hospice care that recognizes not only the illness they are facing, but also the life they have lived, the service they have given, and the legacy they leave behind.
Speak With Our Team
To learn more about hospice care for a Veteran, request an evaluation, or ask about the Heartsong Veteran-Centered Hospice Care Program, please contact Heartsong Hospice.