Stoneleigh Hospice Residence is tuned in to world music

No one is better equipped to know what immediate family members of Hospice patients need better than those family members themselves.

A public computer station
with Internet access at the
Stoneleigh Residence.

That’s why Hospice of Lansing’s Stoneleigh Residence is outfitted with so many comforts and conveniences – many were suggested by family members and several were donated by friends and family as well.

Mini refrigerators in patients’ rooms. DVD players. Bird houses. Solar lights in the serene landscaping.

A grant from the Capital Region Community Foundation helped the Stoneleigh Residence add another convenience suggested by the adult son of a Hospice patient: Free Wi-Fi. The woman’s son was dedicated to staying by his mother’s side in the residence; however, the demands of his job required him to work remotely. Without Wi-Fi at Stoneleigh, he had to leave every time he needed Internet access.

So in 2009, the Community Foundation granted $1,533 to the Stoneleigh Hospice Residence to enable the installation of a free wireless network for everyone to use. Lars Egede-Nissen, Hospice of Lansing’s executive director, said it was a welcome addition for the families and patients.

That Internet access begat another gift to the Stoneleigh Residence: Squeezeboxes.

Lars Egede-Nissen, executive director of Hospice of Lansing,
tunes in music from Japan on one of the Squeezebox Radios
at the Stoneleigh Hospice Residence in Lansing.

No, not accordions. Rather, Logitech’s Squeezebox Radio, a compact, all-in-one network music player that uses Wi-Fi to bring any and every kind of music into a patient’s room.

One particular patient, whose son was an engineer, brought his own Squeezebox into his mother’s room and programmed it to play continuous Frank Sinatra recordings — her favorite. Because the Squeezebox only functions with an Internet connection, his mother was able to hear the music she loved most at the end of her life.

“After the patient had been with us for some time, her son decided that all of our patients should have access to Squeezeboxes,” Egede-Nissen said. “So he bought one for each of the eight patient rooms, one for the nurses’ office and one for the Dart Great Room for all to enjoy.

“Because of the generosity of the Capital Region Community Foundation, patients and their families have access to music of their choice from all around the world,” Egede-Nissen continued.

Dayle Seitz, a social worker at the Stoneleigh Residence, is a fan of the access afforded by the Squeezeboxes. “Because of our wireless Internet, we have been able to get Spanish stations for a Hispanic patient, polka music for a patient who was Czechoslovakian, and everything in between,” she said.

Hospice of Lansing is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving all by bringing kindness, respect and quality to the end of life.  In 2010 Hospice of Lansing served a total of 329 patients and their families.