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This column reflects the opinion of the writer. Learn about the differences between a news story and an opinion column.

Hospice care wonderful

A heartfelt thank you to The Spokesman Review and especially to reporter Treva Lind for the excellent May 15 article “Time for care,” regarding waiting too long to begin hospice care. You did a great service to the people of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho who are facing the end of life, and to their families, by publishing this.

This article ran on the third anniversary of my husband’s death, and the situation you described was exactly what we experienced. Hospice care was recommended to us five weeks before his death and the recommendation was from an ENT physician he was seeing for the first time, rather than by his oncologist who he was seeing frequently.

We asked the oncologist about hospice at our next appointment since he had not brought the subject up to us. My husband was a client of Hospice of Spokane during the last month of his life. They are a wonderful organization, and I regret not contacting them much sooner.

Anne Oswald

Spokane Valley

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