Angels of Light 2014: A Celebration of Life
ANNUAL EVENT HELPS HOSPICE PROVIDE COMFORT,
MEANINGFUL MOMENTS TO PATIENTS, FAMILIES
COVINGTON - The St. Tammany Parish Hospital lobby was lit up Thursday, Dec. 11 during the Angels of Light fundraiser to benefit St. Tammany Hospital Hospice.
As the main annual fundraiser for hospice, which provides care and comfort to terminally ill patients and their families through a range of services, this year's tree raised nearly $20,000.
Each year at the annual Angels of Light event, the Tree for Life is lighted during a beautiful holiday ceremony. This year's tree is decorated with more than 400 Tribute Angels, each representing a special person, whether living or deceased, who is being honored or memorialized by a friend or family member. Every light on the Tree for Life symbolizes the extraordinary care and comfort that is provided to all hospice patients.
“Angels of Light is a beautiful way any member of the community can support our hospice while making a meaningful gift of their own,” said Foundation Specialist Nicole Suhre.
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The ceremony featured live music, including the St. Scholastica Academy choir and harpist Jessica Meltz, and refreshments provided by Zoe's Bakery and STPH Food Services.
The 2014 Hospice Tree for Life is dedicated to the loving memory of Muriel Gautreaux Gallagher, Hubert Shields “Coach” Gallagher Sr. and their son, Hubert Shields “Hubie” Gallagher Jr., by the Gallagher Family. The 2014 Tribute Angels are dedicated to the memory of Harold Kibodeaux by the Dunavant Family.
Hospice unites a team of professionals, physicians, nurses, social 
workers, home health aides, clergy and trained volunteers into a compassionate alternative to traditional care. Services are available to everyone, regardless of ability to pay.
“We provide care any place a patient lives,” said Paula Toups, hospice administrator. “We are not there to cure, but to keep patients comfortable and improve the quality of their lives.”
Those services include palliative care to manage pain and disease symptoms, 24-hour-a-day nursing support for patient caregivers and grief counseling for surviving family members. Hospice cares for patients with late-stage cancer, heart and lung disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease or any other terminal illness, whether patients are at home, in a nursing home or assisted-living facility or in the hospital.
That care often includes helping patients achieve meaningful personal goals. Hospice nurses, social workers, chaplains and volunteers have helped Northshore patients take trips for important family celebrations, procured house-cleaning services for a terminally ill mother of four young children and arranged a photography session for another patient whose family did not have a family portrait.
"The longer we have people under our care, the more we can do for them,” Toups said.
Toups encourages patients and families to explore hospice care early so they can benefit from its array of services, including the opportunity to build a close rapport with nurses and other care providers before care is needed.