To the editor:

During these challenging times when our focus seems to be on the issues of violence in the Mideast, the war on terrorism, and homeland security, I would like to remind your readers that here at home dedicated Americans continue to go into homes of the sick and 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, social workers, therapists, spiritual care providers and volunteers from the Visiting Nurses and Hospice play in the lives of Douglas County and also the economy of our country.

Why celebrate? In addition to providing high quality health care and hospice services in the comfort and dignity of an individual’s own home, home care and hospice services save billions of health care dollars each year. There is no more cost-effective provider of health care in our country.

This November, as we prepare for Thanksgiving and recall what we have to be grateful for, remember those home care and hospice professionals and volunteers of the Douglas County Visiting Nurses & Rehabilitation Assn. and Hospice Care in Douglas County who work tirelessly to provide quality home health and palliative care to the citizens of our community. They form a support network that plays a vital role in health care delivery that allows families to stay together and are making a difference every day in the lives of our community’s seniors, disabled and infirm.

Jan Jenkins,

executive director,

Douglas County Visiting Nurses

Assn./Hospice Care In Douglas

County