Home is more than where the heart is. It is the place we find comfort, peace and independence. For aging and homebound individuals, home is often the best and most preferred place to be when receiving care. In 2016, Homeland at Home launched its HomeCare and HomeHealth outreach efforts to meet the needs of individuals and families. Since that time, both programs have grown in scope and breadth.

For Lora Bierce, RN, WCC, COS-C, Director of Homeland HomeHealth, the development of these programs has been an essential goal to meet the needs of our region’s growing population. Pennsylvania is highly ranked as a place to retire based on the state’s affordable living and high-quality medical facilities.

“We continue to see more options for people to remain at home,” Lora says. “The demand for our services is on the rise.”

Lora has worked in home care since 1993. She helped lead the creation and implementation of Homeland HomeCare and Homeland HomeHealth. In her daily work, she is frequently asked about the differences in the programs.

“It is easy to assume home care and home health services are the same,” Lora adds. “Each offer distinct types of care.”

Home care is comprised of non-medical services to assist with the activities of daily living. Services are customized to meet the individual needs of clients with an emphasis on companionship, comfort and independence.

Services may include:

• Light housekeeping
• Errands such as grocery shopping
• Transportation to medical and other appointment
• Medication reminders and/or administration
• Bathing, dressing, and grooming
• Monitoring diet and appetite
• Assistance with meal preparation and eating

Homeland HomeCare services are provided by Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), who are supervised and trained by licensed nurses as Direct Care Workers in accordance with Pennsylvania Department of Health guidelines.

Home care is typically paid directly by the individual receiving services or through long-term care insurance.

Home health provides physician-ordered medical treatments in the comfort of a patient’s home. This can be as effective as care received in a hospital or medical facility. Highly trained medical experts provide care based on a patient’s individual needs.

Services may include:

• Wound care
• Cardiac care
• Palliative care
• Fall prevention
• Rehabilitation services
• Intravenous therapy

The Homeland HomeHealth teams includes nurses; physical, occupational and speech therapists; a nutritional counselor; social workers; and CNAs.

Homeland at Home consistently receives the highest recognition for quality care, staffing, and safety by CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services).

Lora believes Homeland’s continuum of services eases the burden and confusion many families face when their loved one is in need of support beyond what they can provide. While long hospital stays or time in a nursing facility used to be the only course of action, at-home services provide equally effective care in the comfort of one’s home.

“We are here for anyone in need of support and care,” Lora says. “We treat all clients and patients like family.”

For more information on Homeland HomeCare and HomeHeath, complete our contact form or call 717-412-0166.

Sipping a Coke float delivered by a kind Homeland Center aide, Betty Hungerford shared why life is better in a top-rated continuing care retirement community.

“When you reach a certain age, you’re better off in a place like Homeland than you are at home because you build friendships and relationships and have opportunities you couldn’t have if you lived alone,” she said.

At Homeland Center, Betty is a resident, and she is a treasure. For 20 years, she was Homeland’s development director, raising the funds that propel Homeland’s growth and sustain its stellar reputation for unmatched care.

Betty recently retired at the age of 90! Even as a Homeland resident, she volunteers to serve on the Board of Managers and advises the Board of Directors chair.

A native of Kentucky, Betty was born in a tenant house on her grandfather’s farm. Her father worked in local shoe factories, rising to supervisor, until he moved the family to Palmyra, PA, to work in a plant there.

“He was a learner,” Betty said. “He was a reader. He liked people. He talked as much as I do and lived to 40 days short of 100.”

He was also married to Betty’s mother for better or worse, as he once told a psychiatrist who advised him to get a divorce. Betty’s mom was mentally ill with manic depression and schizophrenia. She was institutionalized for 13 years until new medications helped her manage. Some friends didn’t know about her struggles in her final years.

“That’s her miracle story,” Betty said. “It’s a story I don’t mind sharing because it can give some people hope and understanding about mental illness. It’s a good lesson in never giving up your faith.”

Betty is a proud graduate of Lebanon Valley College, where she majored in economics with minors in political science and English. Music always played a central role in her life, and she sang with the LVC Glee Club.

After graduating in 1954, Betty married and had the family she had always dreamed of – a houseful of three boys and one girl.

“Everybody came to our house,” she said. She laughs about when one son got permission to invite “a few friends” after graduation rehearsal, only to bring the whole class of 125 kids.

Betty’s professional life began in the Pennsylvania Department of Highways (now PennDOT) communications office. She learned to stand up for herself, once telling her boss to stop slamming his door in anger because it disrespected her and the women she supervised.

“He was so shocked, I thought he was going to fall out of his chair,” Betty remembers. “We became long and fast friends.”

It was the beginning of a career devoted to communications and development. She learned fundraising as a March of Dimes volunteer. When she believed in the cause, she didn’t hesitate to ask for money. “If you tell your story and get people to understand how important it is, then it makes them want to give,” she said.

Betty was an independent contractor for Homeland projects. But Morton Specter, the late Homeland board chair, and Homeland President and CEO Barry Ramper II “just wouldn’t give up until I came to work here.” She relented in 2002 and started her remarkable run in an office equipped with a wingback chair and a telephone table.

She built connections to the community and raised funds as Homeland grew. Homeland Center’s 155th Anniversary Celebration Event in 2022 wasn’t meant to honor her, she insists, but she was humbled when organizers and her kids convinced her to let it become a tribute to the “Queen Bee.”

The event raised record amounts for Homeland’s benevolent care fund, ensuring that no resident is ever forced to leave Homeland due to depleted resources. The outpouring of love was “a little overwhelming,” she said, but it served as a testament to her love of people.

Betty Hungerford Story continued…

No profile of Betty is complete without her love story with Paul Hungerford. They first knew each other through friends, but in those days, she thought he was a snob, and “he thought I was a ditzy blonde.”

Then again, he had a dry sense of humor and “always looked like a million dollars.” In 1974, she joined him in Florida to get married. Until he died in 2010, they played cribbage before dinner, attended concerts and theater, and enjoyed each other’s company.

“We truly adored each other,” Betty said. “Everyone should be so lucky.”

Today, Betty provides fundraising guidance for Homeland Board Chair Carlyn Chulick – “She is marvelous,” said Betty. Betty also serves on the Board of Managers to help maintain Homeland’s homelike feel.

“I’ve never worked with such a dedicated group of volunteers,” Betty said. “Never. They all believe in Homeland and what we do.”

As a Homeland resident, Betty enjoys the activities, including musical performances. She loves reading as much as she did as a child when she hid under the covers with a flashlight and a book. Her room is filled with photos of Paul, her children, and grandchildren. The people of Homeland, she said, “have very kindly taken care of me.”

“I feel very secure and well-cared for,” she said. “I know that if my needs change, they will be met. I feel I’ve been blessed.”

Homeland Center (www.homelandcenter.org) offers levels of care including personal care, memory care, skilled nursing and rehabilitation. Homeland also provides hospice, home care, home health and palliative care services to serve the diverse and changing needs of families throughout central Pennsylvania. For more information or to arrange a tour, please call 717-221-7900.

In loving memory of Ellsworth Miller as he passed peacefully in May 2023.

“Good morning Old Glory,” are the first words Ellsworth (Ells) Miller, 96, has said for the past seven years. His daily routine began and ended with a salute to the American flag he proudly hung on the balcony of his apartment at Church of God Home in Carlisle. His apartment balcony faced the Army War College which plays Reveille to begin the day and Retreat in the evening to end duty. Ells, a World War II veteran, rarely missed a chance to honor the flag and the country he loves deeply.

Ells recently moved from his independent living apartment to a skilled nursing room at Church of God Home as his medical needs have called for additional care. He receives daily care from Homeland Hospice, a nonprofit hospice program that serves communities throughout Central Pennsylvania. Ells’ team includes daily visits from a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and routine visits from a nurse and chaplain.

To know Ells is to know a kind and gentle heart filled with unconditional love for his God, country and family. He is quick with a joke and dreams of sunny days fly-fishing at his cabin in Pine Creek Gorge. At 96, Ells is part of the Greatest Generation which includes people shaped by the Great Depression and World War II.

Ells was drafted by the United States Navy when he was 18 years old and earned the rank of Third-Class Motor Machinist. The United States was embroiled in battles in Europe and the Pacific Theater, which included the waters on the Pacific Ocean near Japan. Ells completed basic training in the Great Lakes and pre-ship trainings in Norfolk and Boston before leaving Fort Pierce in Florida aboard the USS Francovich for its maiden voyage.

“We were close to Cuba and we heard about the atomic bomb,” Ells says. “We were relieved the war was over.”

As the USS Francovich began its return trip to Fort Pierce, a hurricane hit the region causing three days of treacherous travel for Ells and his shipmates.

“We were bounced around the ship nonstop,” Ells adds. “All we saw was rain and waves of water.”

Following his time on the USS Francovich, Ells served our country in a variety of capacities before his honorable discharge when he was 20 years old. He left the Navy on July 25 and married his beloved Dottie the next day proudly wearing his Navy uniform. Ells and Dottie were married for more than 70 years and had two children, two grandchildren and several great grandchildren. They are the loves of his life.

After his service, Ells became an electrician and was employed by the Carlisle Barracks followed by Naval Support Activity in Mechanicsburg. Following his retirement in 1981, Ells worked in the pro shop at the Carlisle Barracks Golf Course until 2003. His career challenged his intuitive mind and fulfilled his sense of duty by continuing to support the military efforts of our country.

Homeland Hospice recently honored Ells with a special pinning ceremony for his military service. Homeland honors all who served through its We Honor Veterans program, created by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The program works to improve the quality of health care for all veterans. Homeland Hospice has been part of the program for nine years.

The ceremony ends with a salute to the honored veteran, which brought tears of pride and remembrance to Ells. The flags from the ceremony along with a special certificate he received is proudly on display in his room.

While Ells’ health varies from day to day, there is no such thing as a bad day. He approaches each day as a gift from God and feels fortunate for his countless blessings. As he continues on his end-of-life journey, he recounts his time of service with astounding clarity while imagining where his next steps might take him as he longs to reunite with his darling Dottie who died in 2021.

For Ells, Psalm 118:24 has been and continues to be his guiding light. “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”