Grief support takes various forms at Hospice of Frederick County, but it
is all available free of charge to anyone in the community who is grieving—regardless
of how or when the death occurred.
After Linda Williams’s husband died suddenly in 2010, she attended
a grief support group for widows and widowers at Hospice of Frederick
County. “Being in this support group was the only time I felt I
was truly in the company of people who knew exactly what I was going through,”
said Linda. “Sharing our experiences made our burdens easier to
carry. I think this connection with each other was the point at which
many of us began to heal.”
Sharing Burdens, Beginning to Heal
Like Linda Williams, Ayesha Moore also found a safe haven at Hospice where
she could share her feelings with others who understood her pain like
few others could. Early in 2012, Ayesha and her husband lost their firstborn
child. Later that year, while pregnant with the couple’s second
child, her husband died unexpectedly. After losing this child to miscarriage,
Ayesha says a combination of one-on-one grief counseling and her participation
in a Hospice support group helped her begin to work through her profound
feelings of grief.
“I always thought Hospice’s bereavement services were for those
whose loved ones had died from cancer or after a long illness. I was surprised
to learn that they offer support for everyone in the community who is
grieving, regardless of the circumstances of their loss. Personally, I
don’t know what I would have done without Hospice,” she says.
“They didn’t overwhelm me, but somehow they gave me exactly
what I needed.”
Thanks to generous community support, Hospice of Frederick County provided
grief support free of charge to 757 people in 2013. If you or someone
you know is grieving, call us at call 240-566-3030, or email Linda Kinna-Engel
at lkinna@fmh.org, or Denise Watterson at dwatterson@fmh.org.