Steve Cordle
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Ashely Hammond is the focus of our healthcare hero segment this month. Hammond is a Registered Nurse and Case Manager with Big Bend Hospice (BBH) and a part of what she does includes supervising Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA). She has also worked as a floor nurse in an assisted living facility.
Hammond graduated from Madison County High School and then graduated from what was then North Florida Community College in 2015 as a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN). After continuing her education, Hammond earned her Registered Nurse (RN) course of study in 2019. Hammond has been with BBH since November 2019 and in her current position of case manager since September 2020.
Hospice is a type of health care that focuses on optimizing terminally ill patients’ quality of life, while mitigating their suffering with severe and complex illness. Hospice also attends to the patients emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life. Hospice care prioritizes comfort and quality of life by reducing pain and suffering. Hospice care provides an alternative to therapies focused on life-prolonging measures that may be arduous, likely to cause more symptoms or are not aligned with a person's goals. Hammond said patients are generally referred to hospice care once a diagnosis is made that the patient has six months or less to live, although some live far beyond the six months.
Hammond tends to her patients, many of whom want to spend their final days in their own homes, by making sure they have all they need such as equipment and meds. Hospice also provides the means of educating family members about what hospice is and how to deal with their current situation. When asked why she wanted to go into healthcare, Hammond said that the desire stems from the times she took care of her grandparents. “Working in hospice helps you keep life in perspective,” she said. Getting to know the patients and their families is her favorite part of the job.
Like all healthcare workers, COVID-19 has impacted Hammond’s work. While she has not had a COVID-19 patient in her care, she said that she is “more aware of what you are bringing in and out of the patients’ home and thus makes you more cautious.”
Currently, Hammond is working towards her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. When not on the job, she and her husband, Gary Hammond, enjoy an occasional fishing trip and are members at Pinetta Baptist Church. Thank you, Ashely, for your dedicated work and service!
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