2009 Daffodil Days Benefits Presbyterian Home Healthcare and Hospice

Presbyterian Home Healthcare's Home Care and Hospice Services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, serving patients from Algodones to Belen and from Rio Rancho to Moriarty. Following is the story of one of our Hospice patients.

John and Anita Cates, Jerry Leischner

This is the story of one family's Hospice experience, how it brought them to Daffodil Days and how Daffodil Days got its mascot. 

It began in 2002 when Mrs. Betty Cates was a patient in the Hospice Unit at Presbyterian Kaseman Hospital. The family - children Anita and John and her husband William (Bill), a retired dentist, along with family friend Jerry Leischner, were so impressed with her professional care and the responsive staff that they decided they want to give something back to the community.

The next year Bill, Anita, John and Jerry, along with their rescue dog, a terrier named Sparky, started volunteering for Daffodil Days, a labor intensive, week-long annual event that deploys hundreds of volunteers to unload, cut, sort, arrange, deliver and sell over 180,000 daffodils across the city. The sale of flowers benefits Home Health Care and Hospice and helps to make a real difference in patients' lives. 

Anita and Bill Cates, Sr

Over the years, the Cates' and Jerry have unloaded the refrigerator trailer truck of its 360 crates of fresh flowers and broken down and delivered the crates to the recycling center. They have made flower arrangements with babies breath and greens or bundled them into bunches for sales sites. They have made hundreds of deliveries to businesses and individual homes, while donating their time and vehicle mileage. Usually among the first to arrive, they often close the warehouse at the end of the day. 

While his owners are generally busy all day, Sparky moves about the warehouse delicately cleaning the floor of pizza crumbs, bits of cookies and an odd M&M, all the while keeping a watchful eye on the activities. Last year, she was presented with her own red neckerchief painted with daffodils and named the official event mascot. 

Sparky, Daffodils mascot

It was also the last year that Bill volunteered. He was indispensible as the event navigator managing the driving logistics to find the most efficient and traffic-free routes for their deliveries. He passed away at Presbyterian Hospital shortly after Daffodil Days and Anita said, "He just had to do one more." He will be missed by his children, friends and his Daffodil Days family. 

"It has been my observation that when your goals are heartfelt, nothing can alter your course," said Vince Marchi, Foundation Board Member. This certainly holds true for Anita, John and Jerry, and William, may he rest in peace, whose work and dedication come from the heart. They personify what it means to give of yourself in order to better our community and the world.

About Presbyterian Hospice Services

Hospice has nurses specially trained in pain and symptom management, who help each of our patients maintain physical comfort. Social workers and counselors provide a much-needed sympathetic ear and work with patients and their families to help them obtain community-based assistance when needed. 

Hospice chaplains support patients with spiritual issues related to the end of life and provide bereavement counseling to the families. 

The Hospice Home Health Aides and Homemakers help with the routine details of daily living, including assistance with errands. 

In all, Hospice strives to offer peace and dignity to patients and their families at this difficult but very special time.

About Palliative Care Consult Services

Palliative Care Consult services are provided to patients and families to relieve suffering physically, psychologically, spiritually, socially and practically. These services are for patients diagnosed with serious life-limiting illnesses.

About Home Care Services

The program provides care to homebound patients who need any of the following services on an intermittent basis: 

• Skilled Nursing Care
• Physical Therapy
• Occupational Therapy
• Speech Therapy
• Medical Social Services
• Home Health Aide Assistance
• Specialty Care programs
  • Palliative Home Care
  • TeleHealth
  • Women's and Children's high-risk care
  • Wound care
  • Cardiac and Orthopedic rehabilitation
  • Nursing management of pain and infusion therapy

Presbyterian Home Healthcare services include Home Care, Palliative Care, and Hospice Services that are tailored to meet the individual needs of our patients. Your purchase of daffodils will make a real difference in someone's life. Thank you.

Find out more about Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation and Daffodil Days, or get your flowers at any of the many convenient sales locations. You may also call us at (505) 724-6580.

To learn more about Presbyterian Home Healthcare and Hospice, to request a brochure, or to speak with a Hospice Professional, please call (505) 559-1122.