ASPEN, Colo.—These days, Robert Morris Buckmaster, who will turn 91 next month, lives quietly at his home in the care of Hospice of the Valley in the Aspen area as he fights chronic lung disease and the effects of a stroke he suffered in 2007.
Even though he is on oxygen, Buckmaster suffers from coughing spells that leave him exhausted and unable to speak, so he relies on his daughter to tell his life’s story—one full of adventure that most can only aspire to achieve.
Buckmaster retired as a lieutenant colonel after spending 27 years in the Army Air Corps, which included service in World War II and the Korean War. In his role as a photographer, he mapped islands in the South Pacific on reconnaissance missions, took pictures of a downed Russian spy plane in Italy, was the director of photo training at Lowry Air Force base in Denver and photographed shuttle launches at Cape Canaveral.
After retiring, Buckmaster settled in Glenwood Springs in 1972 and then spent the next 30 years teaching skiing at Sunlight Mountain Resort. Arthritis in his back forced Buckmaster to stop skiing, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and a stroke led to his enrollment in hospice in 2009.
According to Markey Butler, the executive director of HomeCare & Hospice of the Valley, one of the biggest myths of hospice care is that “all they do is give you morphine to make you die.”
She explained that hospice takes a multifaceted approach that works with both patients and their families to provide a range of services.
“We work with patients to complete the final chapter of their lives,” she said.
This final chapter goes beyond providing palliative care and includes issues such as preparing living wills and funeral arrangements. Hospice employs social workers that engage the families to talk about and prepare for the inevitable loss of a loved one.
A central concept of hospice care is walking side by side with an individual toward the end of their life. For some people this includes checking off items on their bucket list. Butler points out that these are often simple things, such as walking on a beach one last time, riding the giant swing at Glenwood Caverns or maybe writing a final letter to a child. Oftentimes a patient needs to let go of something in their past or come to peace with themselves before they can die at ease, regardless of their medical condition.
Butler also works hard to dispel the myth that a person is essentially done living once they enter hospice.
“When the focus becomes care not cure, then hospice becomes important,” she said. “It is about how we die a dignified death.”
Alice Dudley was born on July 4, 1922, and she likes to say that she “came out with a bang.” Her entrance into this world on America’s most patriotic day is especially fitting considering she entered the U.S. Coast Guard in the first year that women were allowed to join.
Dudley has been singing since the age of 14—she even had her own radio program in her hometown of St. Louis. It was this talent that led her to enlist in 1942 and spend three years touring the country with SPARS, a group of women that performed a musical variety show with the goal of recruiting young men and women for the war effort. She continued to sing throughout her life, representing the Coast Guard at hometown celebrations such as Memorial Day, Veterans Day and of course, the Fourth of July.
After her health began to deteriorate several years ago, Dudley moved from her home in Red Bluff, Calif., to live with her daughter Stephanie Smith in Silt. Following an operation, a Veterans Affairs hospital recommended that Dudley enter the hospice program so that her needs could be better met.
Smith echoes the importance of hospice’s holistic approach.
“They help you think about the stuff you don’t want to think about,” Smith said. These things include basic paperwork, funeral arrangements and extended care.
As a result of her mother being enrolled in hospice, Smith and her husband can go to their respective jobs on a daily basis and not have to worry about Dudley’s care. A certified nursing assistant ensures that her ongoing medical needs are met, while a group of dedicated hospice volunteers read, sing and provide companionship.
One of those regular volunteers is Karen Williams, who likes to look at wildlife magazines with Dudley. Williams gives of her time because she feels it is important for the families of hospice patients to be able to take a break.
“It helps families a lot,” Williams explained. “Volunteers provide respite care and allow them to get away, even if it’s just for a hair appointment.”
Another aspect of basic ongoing care is something that most of us take for granted—the ability to bathe on a regular basis.
This is something that the CNA helps facilitate, oftentimes when a family member is physically unable to assist. For example, Virdine “Junior” Randle is a nursing assistant who comes twice a week and helps give Buckmaster a shower. Buckmaster’s daughter Connie Bunch praises hospice and the services it provides.
“It has definitely been a godsend for both of us. Without it, he would have been in a nursing home by now,” Bunch said.
The need for a hospice provider in the region became apparent to Butler after Roaring Fork Hospice closed its doors in June 2008. Roaring Fork Hospice was a division of Valley View Hospital, and Butler saw a conflicting mission.
“Hospitals are not focused on end of life care, they are focused on running the hospital,” Butler said.
From the start, Butler was adamant that Hospice of the Valley be structured as a nonprofit and not be hospital based. She also wanted to create a “comprehensive model that doesn’t focus on the bottom line, but that focuses on the care.”
Buckmaster, Dudley and other veterans under hospice care are all tied by a common thread.
In September of 2010, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) launched a website called We Honor Veterans, the result of a partnership with the Veterans Affairs agency. The site provides a comprehensive resource for hospice organizations to work with veterans in their care.
As Hospice of the Valley ramps up this new component of its care, it is especially in need of volunteers who are veterans.
One such volunteer is retired Marine Corps Lt. Col. Dick Merritt, who is part of a group of locals representing each branch of the service who have made themselves available to Hospice of the Valley. In typical Marine Corps brevity, he sums up the program:
“We try to relate—duty stations we served at, common experiences. There’s always a common note.”
As the baby boomer population continues to age, hospice care and all of its myriad components will become more integral to our society.
Dudley’s other daughter, Jennifer DeBose, understands that death is inevitable and has come to peace with her mother’s dying.
“She’s had a remarkable life, and hospice is just one more part.”
