Our longtime collaborators
Friday, August 28th, 2009
Below is the article from our Community Connections email newsletter about our friends at Hospice VNS. We have been working with VNS for nearly two decades at providing families the support they need before, during, and after the death of a loved one. Our collaboration became even closer with the creation of Building Bridges, the six week grief support program that started at Memorial Funeral Home and has been built upon by VNS. We look forward to many more years.
Hospice at Visiting Nurse Services of Newport and Bristol Counties: Building Bridges with Memorial Funeral Home for 3 years running!
It’s Fall, and time to start thinking about Bereavement Education Groups. Again this year, through our Building Bridges collaborative, we are joining with Hospice at Visiting Nurse Services of Newport and Bristol Counties to present four 6-week General Bereavement Education Groups. These groups are open to the public and provide an overview of the grieving process. Following completion of the 6-week group, participants are invited to attend the monthly “Graduate Group” as a way of continuing their journey through grief with others who understand what the grief experience is like. While offered in the beautiful setting of the United Congregational Church in Middletown, these groups are not church-affiliated. Alison Seran, the Hospice Social Worker, and Barbara Carnes, the Hospice Bereavement Coordinator will again facilitate these groups.
Originally from New Jersey, Alison’s life and social work career have taken her to Virginia, Wyoming, Japan, Seattle, and most recently, Rhode Island. She Joined VNS of Newport and Bristol Counties in 2006 and has served as a hospice social worker and co-facilitator of our ongoing bereavement groups.
Barbara grew up on Aquidneck Island but left after graduating from college. She returned twelve years ago with many experiences related to loss and bereavement. Those experiences included personal losses and her work as a mental health nurse with patients and families facing terminal illness. She has been the Bereavement Coordinator at Hospice of Visiting Nurses of Newport and Bristol Counties since 2006.
Alison and Barbara look forward to welcoming back our graduates on September 1, and meeting new Building Bridges group participants on September 23.”