Synergy Animal Hospice is a 501 (c )(3) organization dedicated to extending hospice care to the families of Central Oregon whose animals are experiencing a life-limiting illness or disease process and grief support for anyone coping with an anticipated or current loss of an animal companion.

Hospice care has been part of the American landscape since the 1970s although its roots go back hundreds of years as a way of helping those who are ill and dying. Today, hospice is a model of care that manages the symptoms of a disease while enhancing the highest possible quality of life during the final stages of a life limiting illness/disease process when cure is no longer sought or possible. This care is provided by a specialized team of several disciplines to support the physical, emotional, spiritual, and practical needs of the patient and their significant others in the patient’s home setting and is typically referred to hospice by a physician when it appears the person is within six months of life expectancy. The underlying focus of hospice is to “live until you die,” as pain free and comfortable as possible, surrounded by those you love and who love you as well.

The Aim…

By adapting the philosophy and concepts so well established in the human hospice model of care, Synergy seeks to provide a similar level of comfort to an animal and their humans during the transitional stages of care giving, dying, saying good-bye, and grieving losses while honoring the meaning of this special relationship. Like the human counterpart, our ultimate goal for animal hospice is to have a coordinated team approach to care that surrounds and includes the animal patient and family throughout the end of life process. Consisting of multiple disciplines, the members of the hospice team includes the regular veterinarian and vet technician for physical concerns, social workers, counselors, and chaplains for emotional and spiritual care, and specifically trained volunteers working together under the supervision of a hospice veterinary medical director to help support the needs of each animal family unit with a care plan that is individualized and appropriate to their wishes.

Taking Steps…

While our goal is to have a full hospice team of support, we recognize the multiple steps we have to take and the stages of development we need to complete in order to reach our desired level of community service. At this time, Synergy is comprised completely of volunteers who desire a different way of being during the last stages of life in the dying process for themselves as well as their animal friends in a hospice modality. This desire for something more meaningful is the propelling force behind animal hospice, that is, to move away from the sense of “execution,” towards that of “releasing” and to be able to say “good-bye” lovingly instead of traumatically.

Currently, we offer community support through our weekly Tuesday evening group meeting and some limited one to one consultations for emotional and spiritual needs. We have an annual Blessing of the Animals celebration in the fall and a Candle Light Remembrance in the spring that honors both past and present animal companions.

By learning from the experiences of those we have already met, the results of our local veterinarian and public interest surveys, and our discussion groups, we hope to build the type of program our community has expressed a desire for receiving. The “program” is in the development stage and is dependent upon the number of volunteers able to help it grow. Once the groundwork is established and the volunteers are trained, we will have a time limited trial run that will focus on the emotional, spiritual, and practical areas of support. The feedback from the trial run will continue to mold our hospice model and we hope to procure the funding needed to officially “open the doors” of Synergy with a small paid staff and enough volunteers to begin a two year animal hospice project in Deschutes County.

The need is great and the opportunities are broad; please consider how you may participate in joining us in “synergistically” building and bringing the hospice care network to all of our community members whom we love and call “family.”