After her dad’s experience using hospice care — health care that focuses on keeping patients comfortable at the end of their lives — Santa Barbara resident Amada Campuzano chose to pivot her nursing career to focus on helping other families using hospice.
That 10-year nursing career had already led Campuzano to work as a school nurse, surgical nurse, and clinical instructor before the experience with her dad led her to hospice nursing at VNA Health, a local nonprofit health care organization. In early 2021, Campuzanos’s father had a massive stroke that left him hospitalized for 12 days. His condition was such that the family considered hospice home care.
“As a family, we asked him what he wanted to do, and we gave him his options.” Campuzano said. “When we told him, ‘come home on hospice,’ he would move. He kept moving his foot like, ‘that’s what I want.’ And again, being the daughter, I asked him three times just to validate that that’s what his wishes were, and he kept moving faster and faster.”
At the hospital, a hospice committee from VNA Health came to arrange the accommodations. Once home, Campuzano saw that hospice care was the right choice.
“My dad just looked like he was asleep and he was snoring,” she said. “So I’m like, OK, he’s comfortable.”
As the family settled into their new arrangement, the weight of what was happening also settled in. Having an experienced hospice nurse there helped.
“I was like a deer in headlights,” Campuzano said. “He said, ‘I’m going to talk to you as a daughter.’ And I said, ‘please do because right now I’m trying really hard not to think like a nurse.’”
The hospice nurse taught the family how to operate medical devices and administer medication.
“He left me feeling really prepared with what I needed and broke down into steps what I needed to follow,” Campuzano said.
One night, her dad started to have complications, so Campuzano called VNA, and a nurse gave advice over the phone before coming to provide in-person support. When Campuzano’s father died, the nurse called the mortuary and handled other important matters, so family members could focus on each other.
Though it was difficult to lose her dad, Campuzano appreciated the support and care her family received from the staff at VNA Health.
“I just remember telling my dad, ‘I promise that I am going to pay it forward and hold people’s hands that are going through the exact same experience or slightly different than mine, and let them know that they’re not alone,’” Campuzano said.
Less than a year after her father’s death, she joined the team at VNA Health, where she helps hospice patients and their families.
“I tell them, ‘I understand. I totally get it,’” Campuzano said. “‘I’ve been through it, and I want you to know that you’re not alone. Let me be the brain. Let me be your voice in your ear, guiding you to what you need to do. Your responsibility is just to be a daughter, a son, a husband, a wife. That is your only responsibility. My job and my responsibility is to hold your hand and let you know that you are not alone.’”
Other nurses who want a rewarding career should consider hospice care, Campuzano said.
“I found my home at VNA Health,” she said.
