Special Finds at Hospice of Marshall County Thrift Shoppe

I’ve always loved shopping at yard sales and thrift stores, so my involvement with the Hospice of Marshall County Thrift Shoppe has been a really good fit!  I guess I could say the success of our Thrift Shoppe has exceeded our expectations, but really, I felt it would do very well all along.  Since we opened in 2011, we have grown and grown and grown!  We are currently in the process of moving into a 21,000 sq. foot retail space on Hwy. 431 in Guntersville, (the former Discount Furniture World building) which will give us more room to display all our ‘treasures’! 

Recently, there was a really neat article in the local papers about how one woman found her high school yearbook picture in a local thrift store.   She had no idea who would have donated it or how it got there.  Our Thrift Shoppe has experienced some really neat finds as well!  When we first opened up, Jennifer Smith, our Administrative Secretary, found a cookbook that had a recipe from her Grandmother.  She was so excited to find that family treasure as her Grandmother is no longer with us and the family recipe had been lost. 

Also, during the holidays, I was at a party at the home of Cindy Yates, a friend from church.  She was giving me the grand tour of her home (I had never been to this home and LOVED seeing all the Christmas decorations!).  As we were looking at the Christmas Village display, she showed me a little statue, turned it over and showed me the writing on the bottom.  The magic marker writing was this: “Christmas 1998, With Love, Will Yates”.  Wow!  Sounds very ordinary, huh?  Well, let me give you the background...

After much prayer, many years and tears and disappointments, God answered Rick and Cindy Yates petition for a baby and they adopted Will.   Our entire church rejoiced over this sweet little baby!  (They were blessed a couple of years later with another son, Justin).  Rick passed away several years ago, but we keep him alive in our hearts as he was a special person to many, many people. 

Fast forward to the present… Cindy’s stepmother, Gail Hunt, who is a Hospice of Marshall County Volunteer, was shopping in the Thrift Shoppe and found the little Christmas statue.  She recognized Will’s name (Will is now 18 years old and also a volunteer with Hospice of Marshall County) and brought it home to Cindy.   Will had given this to a Sunday School or preschool teacher in 1998 when he was just 3 years old.  But the most important part of all is that the writing on the bottom of the statue was Rick’s handwriting!  How neat is that?!!!!  It was almost like getting a little Christmas gift from Rick to see this little statue after all these years.  He would be so proud of Will and his accomplishments as a pianist.

You just never know what treasure awaits you in the Hospice of Marshall County Thrift Shoppe!  We have 50% off all items in the current Shoppe and will be opening very soon in our new location. 

Visit us soon!

Susan Sanders

Public Relations Manager

Lights of Love 2013

Tuesday, December 10, 2013 was a chilly yet beautiful night to gather under the stars and celebrate the lives of our loved ones. We invited folks from the community to join us for an evening of hot chocolate, wassail, cookies, caroling, story-telling and holiday cheer as we remembered loved ones who have gone before us. The Albertville High School choral group, Vocalease, sang carols for us and Kerry Quinn played some beautiful tunes on the piano in our front lobby. We were also blessed to have the Marshall Christian School drama students do a litany reading for us.

At the end of the night we did a roll call, calling out the names of those who were being remembered at this ceremony. Finally, we lit the tree--the BIG tree! It was a charming night enjoyed by all.

Below you'll find a slideshow of some of the pictures that were taken the night of Lights of Love as well as a video of the tree lighting! Merry Christmas!

From the Front Lines: Reflecting on a Career

We are very busy here at HMC celebrating November as National Hospice and Palliative Care Month.  We are being ‘proclaimed’ at local City Council meetings, passing out flyers about hospice care, planning a county-wide Chamber Early Bird breakfast, having our first Coffee & Conversations gathering, planning an in-service on Veterans at the end of life and various other activities!  As I was thinking about everything that has to be done this month, I reflected back on my 16 years in hospice care.  Let me make this clear…..I NEVER planned to be a hospice nurse.  When I was in nursing school, I all I ever wanted to do was deliver babies.  I did spend the first 18 years of my career in Women’s and Children’s Services (loved it!) and by no choice of my own, I found myself in Home Health and Hospice care (didn’t love it!). 

But what I now realize is that while my time delivering babies, teaching childbirth classes and generally promoting women’s health was wonderful—I was being prepared to continue my ministry of work in hospice care.  I found a love for hospice that I didn’t know was in my heart.  As I talk to other hospice nurses at Hospice of Marshall County and other agencies, I find there are many of us ‘former OB nurses’ now providing care at the other end of the age spectrum.  Surprisingly, there are many similarities in my practice now as with OB care even though I am not directly involved with day-to-day direct patient care.  There’s a saying I believe is very true and it is this, “When a baby is born, the baby cries and everyone else rejoices, and when someone dies, that person rejoices and everyone else cries.”   How true that saying is, especially if that someone has made preparations for their life after this one.  In care of women and children, I provided care to some of the most vulnerable in our society –  the mother and newborn babe. In hospice care I am also providing care to another vulnerable group in our society – the very ill and their family.  

In the years I have been involved with hospice care, I have seen many changes.  No longer are we just caring for elderly families with great extended family and church support.  The families we serve now many times have extremely complicated issues that tax our limited resources and require us to be creative in seeking assistance from the community.  Reimbursement cuts and ever increasing regulatory scrutiny cause us to have ‘one of those days’ almost daily!  Still I will say, this is the hardest job I’ve ever loved and I am continually encouraged to see how every member of our team puts their own heart and soul into what we do.

Hospice professionals everywhere, I salute you! 


--Susan Sanders, RNC, BSN

Our Nine County Service Area

Although we are named for the county of our birth, Hospice of Marshall County is a regional, non-profit hospice with a service area of nine counties for home care. We have for years served patients in the Dekalb, Etowah, Blount, St. Clair, Cullman, Madison, Morgan and Jackson county area. It is important to us that we are able to respond in a timely manner to your needs. We generally define our service area as "within a 50 mile radius" from our home office in Albertville; however, if your home is farther than 50 miles from our office, we can evaluate your situation and offer an option of electing care with us or referring you to another non-profit hospice closer to your home.

For hospice care at our inpatient facility, Shepherd's Cove, the county of residence is not a consideration for admission.

Pink Pumpkin Fun!

We had a fantastic time gathering with friends in the community to raise awareness of breast cancer at the Pink Pumpkin Run last weekend! The race was hosted by The Foundation for Marshall Medical Centers and proceeds benefited the Mammography Assistance Program (MAP) and the Marshall Cancer Care Center. The Mammography Assistance Program offers assistance to women who cannot afford a yearly mammogram. MAP gives women the ability to overcome obstacles that may prevent them from getting this potentially life-saving test.

Now we're looking forward to our own run--so be sure to mark your calendar's for the Race to Remember 5k and 1 mile fun run on March 1, 2014! Stay tuned for more info.

--Courtney Kyle, Public Relations Specialist

From the Front Lines

Recently, one precious daughter blessed me with a request to move her family member from a hospital setting to Shepherd’s Cove. She told me they had heard about the wonderful facility we had and wanted to move her Mother here so the family could be in a place that would support them in their desire to "help her exit into Heaven." "Exit into Heaven"--I’ve not heard it phrased quite that way before, but the more I thought about it, the more special that phrase has become to me. It’s an exit we all take, from this physical world we know about, to another world we hope in and believe in. What an honor to be a part of this journey with this sweet, sweet family.

--Susan Sanders, RNC, BSN

6 Facts About Hospice Care

1. Hospice is not "giving up;" the focus is not on curing, but on caring and quality of life. Hospice gives patients the ability to take advantage of the gift of time so that they may spend their last moments as fully and comfortably as they can!
2. Hospice care is usually provided in the home or wherever the patient calls home.
3. Hospice cares for people with any kind of life-limiting illness.
4. Hospice is not limited to six months of care.
5. Hospice is fully covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most private health plans.
6. We are here 24/7 to help anyone whether you are a patient, caregiver or just wanting to speak to someone about quality end of life care--call us at 256.891.7724.