For one Hospice patient, it’s just another day on the links
| Chaplain Larry Krewson and RN June Warren from Hope Hospice show support for Jack as he swings away. |
FORT MYERS – Sometimes when you feel out of place or out of sorts, you just need something routine – anything – to help make you feel better. For Jack Lee, that something was golf.
Jack, a former attorney from Cleveland, had played golf throughout his life. He joined the Shell Point Golf Club the first year he was a resident. He even tried to teach his wife, Kathy, to play, but according to her, “it’s tough to learn something like that from your husband.”
After becoming a patient of Hope Hospice at Shell Point, his longing for the sweet swing of the club continued. “Whenever he talked about golf, he always brightened up,” recalls Kathy. In early March, he asked Janelle Carbone and June Warren from Hope Hospice if he could play once more. “I was a non-golfer,” said June, “but I told him we would make it happen.”
Through the concerted efforts of Shell Point Homecare, Hope Hospice, and the Shell Point Golf Club, Jack was able to make it out to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls.
“We were able to physically get him onto the driving range,” said Bill Malmborg, who was working the desk at the Shell Point Golf Club that day, “And I was happy to get him some clubs and some balls, and let him at it.”
“The people at the Shell Point Golf Club couldn’t have been more more kind and more gracious,” said June. “Jack would sit after each swing, and I’d ask him, ‘Jack, are you tired?’ And he would grin and say, ‘No! One more!’ It was really inspirational.”
“I¹ve played golf for 65 years,” said Bill, “so I know how important it can be to a guy. That’s why it’s so great that Shell Point built this course. People like Jack, who have played golf their whole life, can live here and enjoy the same things in their later years.”
Return to 2003 News and Stories.
