Few programs mean as much to people as hospice.

The hospice program allows people with a terminal illness to receive home-centered care. The services are only for comfort, rather than for a cure.

Most importantly, it allows participants to carry on a semblance of a normal life during a time when their life is anything but normal.

Services include skilled nursing, home health aides, counseling support for patients and families, medical equipment, volunteer support and bereavement help.

All of these services not only help patients and their families cope with the situation, but helps them find peace in dying.

Another benefit is that hospice teaches families how to care for their ill family member. This not only helps the patient physically, but allows them to spend time with their family at their most difficult time.

November is National Hospice month. For more information or to volunteer, call 377-6393.

Freeborn County-area residents can also help &uot;Set Memories Aglow&uot; with a $5 donation to Crossroads Community Hospice. Each donation will light one bulb on the Hospice Tree in memory of a loved one. The proceeds benefit the hospice program. A lighting ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 1.

Become a part of this important program.

Tribune editorials represent the opinion of the newspaper’s management and editorial staff.