To the editor:

During these challenging times, when our focus seems to be on the issues of violence in the Mideast, potential war with Iraq and homeland security, I would like to remind your readers that here at home, dedicated Americans continue to go into the homes of the sick and the dying and provide small miracles when miracles are needed most.

November is National Home Care and Hospice Month, and a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the role that home care and hospice nurses, aides, therapists, spiritual care providers, and volunteers from the Visiting Nurses Assn. and Hospice play in the lives of Douglas Countians, and also in the economy of our country. Why celebrate? More than just providing high-quality health care services in the comfort and dignity of a patient’s own home, home care and hospice services save billions of health care dollars each year.

As the 21st century continues to unfold, it is becoming clear that the fundamental domestic issue that will face us all will be that of how to provide quality long-term care to our parents and eventually ourselves. As the answer to this challenge, home care and hospice continues to be both compassionate and cost-effective.

This November, as we prepare for Thanksgiving and recall what we have to be grateful for, please remember those home care and hospice professionals and volunteers who are making a difference every day in the lives of our nation’s seniors, disabled, and infirm. They truly are the heart and soul of health care in America.

Jan Jenkins,

Lawrence