A Caring Touch 

It is the Mission of ABC Hospice, Inc. to provide world class care to all that we serve by ever upholding our core values of Empathy, Respect, Compassion and Integrity. ABC Hospice has brought together your neighbors and friends to form a network of professionals and volunteers. 

With an experienced team, ABC Hospice develops a comprehensive plan to best meet each patients needs. The team consists of a physician, nurses, a chaplain, nurse aides, a social worker and volunteers. With this team approach we are able to provide our patients with symptom relief, medications, medical equipment, supplies and most importantly a hand of compassion. 

We believe that, by being dedicated to the ABC Hospice approach, we can enrich the lives of those in our community, by enriching the remaining time they have with their loved ones who are nearing the end of life. As your loved one requires more care, ABC Hospice provides that care.

Pediatric Hospice

When a child is diagnosed with a terminal illness, the heartbreak is unbearable. Parents need their children in the comfort of a familiar environment, and they need loving professionals to provide specialized care for their precious one. 

With caring hearts, ABC Hospice provides Pediatric Hospice for children. Children need the comfort of their parents' love, but they also need the loving care of experienced health care professionals. In this difficult time, families can look to ABC Hospice for a hand of compassion.

A Friend To Count On

Sunshine Volunteers are the heart of ABC Hospice. These remarkable volunteers choose to give their time, love and energy to hospice patients and their families to help make a difficult time more bearable.

Volunteers receive training designed to teach them the many aspects of working with terminally ill patients and their family members. ABC Hospice Sunshine Volunteers assist patients and families in a variety of ways, such as:  

• Staying with patients for a specific time period to allow caregivers to go out or perhaps take a nap
• Grocery Shopping 
• Companionship to the patient and family members 
• Emotional support 
• Writing letters for patients 
• Picking up patient medications from the pharmacy 
• Offering support via telephone

The relationships that develop between our hospice patients, family members and volunteers is special. Many of the Sunshine Volunteers were once family members of an ABC Hospice patient. They understand first hand how much family members rely on volunteers to lean on during such a trying time. 

Tiffany Brown enjoys being a volunteer with ABC Hospice, she says, “I enjoy being able to cut patients hair and help them feel more like themselves. It is a difficult time in their lives and anything I can do to make them feel better makes me feel good."

Our team of volunteers are truly dedicated to making the lives of our patients and family members as stress free as possible. To learn more about our volunteers, or to become an ABC Hospice Sunshine Volunteer, contact us at 1.866.479.2227.

Beyond Just Care

ABC Hospice provides ongoing grief counseling to family members and loved ones. Our role continues for as long as families need us. ABC Hospice has trained counselors who provide grief counseling the first Thursday in March, June and September from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. at the Rainsville Library. For more information on grief counseling please call us at 256.638.3491.

For people who experience difficulty in coping with their loss, grief counseling or grief therapy may be necessary. The goals of grief counseling include:

• Helping the bereaved to accept the loss by helping him or her to talk about the loss.
• Helping the bereaved to identify and express feelings related to the loss (for example, anger, guilt, anxiety, helplessness, and sadness).
• Helping the bereaved to live without the person who died and to make decisions alone.
• Helping the bereaved to separate emotionally from the person who died and to begin new relationships.
• Providing support and time to focus on grieving at important times such as birthdays and anniversaries.
• Describing normal grieving and the differences in grieving among individuals.
• Providing continuous support.
• Helping the bereaved to understand his or her methods of coping.
• Identifying coping problems the bereaved may have and making recommendations for professional grief therapy.