Chamber briefed by Hospice of Louisiana speakers

The guest speakers during this week’s Ville Platte Chamber of Commerce meeting were three representatives of Louisiana Hospice and Palliative Care, based in Eunice.
The first to speak, Rose Campbell, an RN, said Louisiana Hospice is the only locally based hospic and it serves a 50-mile-radius area.
She said about 40 percent of patients there have cancer and the rest are deemed to be in the end stage of a terminal condition. She said families are urged to consider final treatment for family or loved ones so they will know what kinds of treatment should be provided. Some people choose not to have extraordinarily invasive treatments.
For example, if the patient cannot communicate, Campbell said family or others caring for such patient without a living will sometimes say they have never talked to the patient about end-stage treatments and wish they had.
Campbell also said sometimes a hospice gets a patient, perhaps in a very weakened state due to cancer treatments, who recover enough to be discharged from a hospice.
Planning ahead of time can also allow the hospice staff to get to know the patient’s family, and to know the preferences of the patient.
The next speaker, Paul Schexnayder, is the facility’s patient care representative. He said people do have a choice in what hospice a patient with an end-stage condition will be treated, so people should find out where they should place a patient beforehand.
Schexnayder also said hospice staff assist nursing home staff and see patients who prefer to remain in their homes.
Louisiana Hospice also has a 13-month bereavement service for the families of patients they treat. Last month, the hospice began operating a group support bereavement program near Savoy Medical Center in Mamou that involves a chaplain. That group meets the first Monday of each month.
Fran Guillory, a volunteer coordinator with the hospice, was the third speaker during the meeting. She described some of the tasks volunteers do, such as reading to patients. She said the hospice is looking for more volunteers, which she described as “fulfilling and rewarding.”
Later during the meeting, Camille Fontenot, chamber director, made several announcements, including:
•On Saturday, April 5, there will be a Community Treasures Day at Allen Ortego Town Hall Square Park, across Main Street from city hall, from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. People, including church or school groups, can set up for the garage sale starting at 6:30 a.m. Also people who want to have garage sales at their homes inside or outside Ville Platte can call city hall by March 31, and give their address so the city can compile a list of the addresses, which will be posted at the park.
•She needs volunteers to decorate the Northside Civic Center for the chamber’s annual banquet on May 1. Also items are needed for the silent auction at that event.
•There is still room on the bus that will take people on a tour of Angola -- the Louisiana State Penitentiary -- on Wednesday, May 21.
•The owner of the motel next to the Rendevous Dinner Club that burned down last July went to the chamber office and complained about the odor coming from the ruins. Fontenot said a man had bid for work to clear the ruins, who was directed to the owner of the dinner club. Some clearing had been done, she said.
•Work on replacing the roof over the chamber and Acadiana Works offices has begun. The City of Ville Platte will help cover the cost of the replacement.
•Fontenot announced several new members had applied for chamber membership: Peter Stawitz III, with Edward Jones; Carleen Jones, Coreil Campus administrator; Kimberly Soileu, Little Giraffes Learn & Grow; West & Vidrine law offices; Dupre Meyers, LLC; and SuddenLink Communications. All members were approved.
•Next month’s chamber meeting will be on April 28 because the third Monday of April is the day after Easter Sunday. The meeting will be at Nick’s on Main at noon.
The chamber also was briefed on plans to celebrate July 4 this year. Chamber members had discussed having a larger celebration in Ville Platte, as the city has had in the past.
Ben LeBleu said the group drawing up the plans decided the best way to proceed is to grow the celebration from year to year. This year, plans include a parade down Main Street, ending at the courthouse grounds. There will be activities for a fun family day on the courthouse grounds, LeBleu said.
He said the group organizing the Fourth of July celebration is trying to “make this a parish-wide” celebration. Proceeds from this year’s celebration will be used to build next year’s Fourth of July celebration, possibly to include fireworks.