VP Chamber hears from Hospice

The guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Ville Platte Chamber of Commerce on Monday, February 25, said there is a growing need for volunteers to assist with hospice care providers.

Paul Schexnayder, a patient care representative with Louisiana Hospice and Palliative Care (LHPC), said hospice care involves more patients than in the past. That’s because more conditions are identified as qualifying for such care, he said.

An example of what volunteers can do to help is to be in the home of a patient when that patient’s caregiver needs to go to a store or leave the home for any other reason.

Schexnayder said volunteers would receive some training, which would not include any medical procedures.

Schexnayder said LHPC is the only hospice care provider based in the parish. The hospice is based in Mamou and serves patients in a 50-mile radius from there.

In other business, the chamber:

•Accepted applications to join the chamber from owners of two local businesses -- Bart and Jana Enicke with Eastin Pharmacy and John Deville with the recently opened Rendezvous Dinner Club, where the monthly chamber meetings have been held since the Cajun Smokehouse closed.

•Heard an announcement from Camille Fontenot, chamber executive director, that the annual chamber banquet will take place May 1, at the Northside Civic Center. She said volunteers are needed for decorating, the silent auction and to line up entertainment and speakers.