Press Releases
Hospice Southeastern Connecticut Honors Florist and Delivery Volunteers
On March 4, 2009, Hospice Southeastern Connecticut honored the florists and volunteers who participate in the Rose Program with a wine and cheese reception. Seventeen florists in southeastern Connecticut donate roses as an outreach to the community. These roses are delivered by a trained volunteer to the family of patients who pass away on the Hospice Southeastern Connecticut program. Nursing staff who have cared for Hospice Southeastern Connecticut patients at skilled nursing facilities also receive a rose.
This delivery is one of the first steps in bereavement services which are available from Hospice Southeastern Connecticut for up to 13 months for spouses, parents and children of those patients in our care. Bereavement services are available to the community at large as well.
Volunteer Ann Carignan recounted picking up a yellow rose from McKenna’s Flowers and Plants. Carignan delivered the rose to a recent widow who was deeply touched because that day was her birthday, and her recently deceased spouse always gave her yellow roses. This opened up an hour-long conversation, beginning the healing process.
Cyndia Shook, Hospice Southeastern Connecticut Bereavement Program Administrator, thanked both the florists and the delivery volunteers. “I know first hand how important the delivery of a single rose is to many of our bereaved. To accept the kindness of a stranger, to have something tangible to hold while beginning to talk about a loved one, and to have a trained volunteer who is willing to help with the first step in the healing process: this is what makes the Rose Program so powerful. Thank you to the florists and volunteers who help us to serve our community.”
Hospice Southeastern Connecticut is a community-based non-profit organization that provides quality care for people with life-limiting illnesses and support for their loved ones before and after death. An interdisciplinary group of experts in medical care, pain management, spiritual and psychosocial support care for the patient’s daily needs. Volunteers are specially trained in the hospice philosophy to offer support to patients and their families.
Support groups free of charge for widows and widowers, adults suffering the loss of a child, and children and teens are available to families of Hospice Southeastern Connecticut patients as well as to the community at large. For more information about bereavement support groups or to become a rose donor, call (860) 848-5699 or visit www.hospicesect.org.
Participating Florists:
An Enchanted Florist, Colchester
Anderson’s Garden, Niantic
Cynthia’s Flower Shoppe, Mystic
Fisher Florist, New London
Forever Flowers and Gifts, Norwich
Hart’s Farm Greenhouse and Florist, Canterbury
Hart’s Farm Greenhouse and Florist, Norwich
Hoelck’s Florist, Norwich
Holdridge Florist, Ledyard
Jewett City Florist and Greenhouses, Griswold
LaFrancois Floral, Norwich
McKenna’s Flowers and Plants, Norwich
Montville Florist, Uncasville
Pot of Green Florist, Pawcatuck
Simply Flowers, Salem
Tommy’s Flowers, Groton
Wild Irish Rose, Old Lyme
