Notre Dame Hospice Achieves We Honor Veterans Partner Level Four

Notre Dame Hospice recently achieved We Honor Veterans Partner Level Four
(www.wehonorveterans.org) for our ongoing services and support for veterans. We are committed to serving all veterans with respect, integrity and dignity.

We Honor Veterans is a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). As an accredited partner, Notre Dame Hospice recognizes the unique needs of America’s veterans and their families in caring for and honoring those men and women who have served their country when they reach the end of life.

We try to match as many of our veterans as possible with volunteers who are veterans themselves. The familiarity and shared background help our patients as they relive memories from some of their most indelible life experiences. While the number of veterans who served in World War II continues to dwindle, we have many patients who fought in the Korean, Vietnam and Middle Eastern conflicts.
Notre Dame Hospice delivers flags, balloons and other tokens of appreciation to honor and recognize their service on Veterans Day. Through this program, our staff and volunteers have helped to uncover and preserve timeless stories and long-lost keepsakes. Several years ago, as part of Veterans Day festivities, Bay St. Louis resident Andrew S. Mazerat, Jr. (now deceased) received mementoes of his military past that he thought were lost forever.

Staff from Notre Dame Hospice, along with the U.S. Navy and family members, managed to replace medals received by Steward 3rd Class Mazerat during WW II that had been swept away with all of his belongings during Hurricane Katrina. The medals, along with a vintage photograph of the young sailor in his Navy uniform with his late wife, were arranged in a shadow box to preserve his memories of his tour of duty from 1940-1946 while serving on six Naval vessels. https://www.wlox.com/story/27358731/wwii-veteran-receives-unforgettable-gift-during-veterans-day-ceremony/

Another of our veterans received one of his last wishes when our staff and volunteers arranged for him to go fishing. The fisherman passed away a few weeks later, but, for one last time, he experienced the pastime that had brought him so much pleasure over the years with dignity, respect and integrity that he so richly deserved at the end of his life.