By JUSTIN SCHOENBERGER
The Kinston Free Press

September 21, 2008

KINSTON, N.C. (AP) _ Another type of hospice care facility that is looking to the community for help is the 3HC Clinical Office in Kinston, which services about 650 patients annually by providing home healthcare. It has been in operation for more than 25 years.

It's closely related to Kitty Askins Hospice Center, too, since 3HC owns them both, as well as nine clinical offices in eastern N.C.

In-home outpatient care is administered by 3HC nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists. However, it also provides a much-needed service to caregivers of end-of-life patients.

Every week, Jack Strickland of Kinston said a volunteer comes to his home to watch over his dying wife. It's a 24-hour a day job to care for her - and when volunteer Joyce Adkins makes her scheduled visits, he finally gets the chance to go to the grocery store, run errands or simply take a break for a few hours.

"I'm strapped here 24/7 unless someone comes in to relieve me," Strickland said, adding that relying on family and friends to relieve him can be unreliable and spontaneous. "Volunteer service allows you to have a schedule.

"You know when a volunteer is coming, and I can plan to be ready to leave for a little while once she gets here."

But 3HC is running low on volunteers. According to volunteer coordinator Karen DeBruhl, it's in need of Kinston-area residents to do the same thing Strickland does.

"We have patients just down the street (from the 3HC office on Sussex Street) that need someone to go in and give a caregiver a break," DeBrul said. "We have a lot of requests where the patients would like someone to come in and maybe read a Bible to them ... just be a companion they can talk to."

DeBruhl said volunteers can also deliver meals, work at the center's front desk, mow patient's lawns or simply keep them company. In addition to Strickland's case, she has one volunteer who visits a patient so his wife can go to dinner with their daughter every week.

If interested in volunteering, call DeBruhl at (252) 527-9561 or visit www.3hc.org.

Strickland said he will as soon as he has a chance. He knows firsthand what kind of difference volunteers can make.

"(Adkins) is the most valuable tool in my arsenal right now," Strickland said. "It's the only guarantee I have of anything."

Justin Schoenberger can be reached at (252) 559-1075 or jschoenberger@freedomenc.com.

For more information about 3HC services, please write to 3HC, attention:
Director of Community Development
Home Health and Hospice Care, Inc.
2402 Wayne Memorial Drive
Goldsboro, NC 27534