Hospice care is provided by a group of healthcare professionals who work together to ensure patients live as comfortably and fully as possible during their final days, weeks and months.
For more than 10 years, licensed massage therapist Connie Wood has helped alleviate pain and anxiety through massage therapy, one of the holistic therapies available through HCI Hospice Care Services. Wood lives on a farm with her husband near Murray.
What inspired you to do hospice care?
I joined HCI Hospice Care Services in August of 2015 after losing my mother. My family could not have gotten through it without them.
What is your educational background?
I received my cosmetology license from Faust Cosmetology of Hair Styling in Storm Lake and my massage license from College of Massage, Healing Arts and Science in Des Moines.
What do you enjoy most/find most rewarding about your job?
As hard as it can be sometimes, it is the most beautiful and rewarding thing I have ever done. Thinking about death clarifies your life. It helps you become more alive to each unfolding moment. To spend time with someone who is dying is a gift for each of you. And if you accept this gift you will never be the same.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Dance, crochet, spend time with my grandchildren, indoor gardening (house plants/ herbs)
Are you active in any community organizations?
Amanda the Panda, Lutheran Church of Hope Bible school
What would you like people to know about hospice care?
You are not alone. We are here to help.
HCI Hospice Care Services is an independent, not-for-profit organization committed to providing excellent hospice care to patients and compassionate support for their families since 1978. The organization serves 41 counties from locally staffed offices caring for individuals in their homes, in assisted living facilities, in nursing care facilities or hospitals. Around-the-clock care is also available at HCI Hospice Care Services’ residential hospice houses, Kavanagh House on 56th Street in Des Moines, Greater Regional Hospice Home in Creston and the Hospice with Heart Hospice House in Glenwood. HCI Hospice Care Services is a program of HCI Care Services and is also a proud community partner of Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa. For more information, call HCI Hospice Care Services at 641-342-2888 or visit www.hcicareservices.org. HCI Care Services is also on Facebook and Twitter.
