Category: Seek On Blog (Consumer)

Lifespark’s philosophy is that there’s no right or wrong way to age. What matters is that you get to live your life according to your goals and your desires. Not those of your adult daughter, your next-door neighbor, or even your doctor. But what if those goals and desires have faded into the background? You’re […]

“Sherlin has been building a relationship with Bill for two years. She knows what gets him up in the morning—what’s important to him. And because she knows him so well, she’s been able to help him fulfill his goal of staying in his home and out of the hospital,” says Hilary Frank, Lifespark’s Director of […]

A couple of months ago, my mom tripped on an uneven chunk of sidewalk, fracturing her patella, bruising her hands, and lacerating the skin above her left eyebrow. The ER doctors put her in a hip-to-ankle brace to immobilize her leg and stitched up her forehead. Considering her age (just shy of 90), my mom’s […]

Long after my sisters and I left home, my mom decided it was time to upsize. That’s right, upsize to a bigger house, adding on a porch, deck, and a room over the garage. Mom had always wanted a dream home, and after raising three kids in a tiny house with just one bathroom, she […]

Some people plan ahead. They get their oil changed before the engine starts spewing black smoke. They take down the Christmas tree before it sheds all its needles. They make motel reservations before arriving at Mt. Rushmore on July 3rd. My parents were not those people. Not surprisingly, this was also how they dealt with […]

We made the list. For the 10th time. Humbly (but with a big, proud smile) we accept our most recent Star Tribune award for being named one of the top 175 places to work in the Twin Cities, number 47 on the list to be exact. Even more exciting, this comes just months after earning […]

What soothes you? What makes you laugh? What energizes you? These are the kinds of questions we think about all the time at Lifespark Hospice. We’re impassioned about finding ways to support the whole person in our care. In that same spirit, we’ve recently added music therapy to our in-house hospice services. “Music therapy fits […]

It’s a good question to ask. Are you eligible for hospice? The answer is important because: The most common regret of people on hospice care is that they hadn’t started it sooner. That’s why once you qualify—or even a little before—you and your family might want to start talking about bringing hospice care into your […]

As the pandemic wore on, Ardie, 78, and Bill, 82, were becoming increasingly inactive and isolated, spending their days alone in the apartment, in their recliners watching TV. Their daughters were worried about their parents’ declining health and the number of medications they were on, but living several hours away, they hadn’t been able to […]

“The best way to describe Mom’s attitude toward life is a line from a John Denver song: ‘Joy was the thing she was raised on; love was just the way to live and die,’” Sue Kluegel said about her mother, Georgia, who recently celebrated her 100th birthday. “Everybody who knows her talks about her sense […]