November West Oahu Hospice Hero

Sometimes, all it takes is a simple phone call to make a difference in a patient’s life. Kelci Schedler, RN, recently helped a patient and his family have an unforgettable experience.

Kelci’s patient, a movie buff, had a last wish of going to the theater. She called Kailua Cinemas, which agreed to a free private showing for the patient and his family. Kokua Medical agreed to transfer a bed to the theater, and Islands Hospice picked up the transport tab. 

Thanks to multiple companies working together, Kelci’s patient was able to go to the movies one last time. “I had not seen him so happy in months. At the end of the showing, his mom looked at me and said, ‘I will always remember this,’” she recalled. “We are not able to make all last wishes happen, but this time we were.”

It’s experiences like these that give Kelci a sense of purpose and meaning in the work she does. While most of her role involves spending time at the bedside with patients or talking with families, occasionally surprise visits or tasks like these keep her on her toes.

She developed an interest in hospice nursing early on, during her first job at a senior care home. “I learned very quickly that working with the elderly population was something that I could do for the rest of my life,” she said.

Kelci’s patient visits take her to two or three different facilities every day, where she coordinates care with facility nurses and calls family members to update them. She does whatever she can to walk patients and their families through the death and dying process, so they know they are not alone. She sees education as an essential part of her job, speaking with families and patients to make sure they understand and are prepared for what could happen next. “I have seen how just a little bit of education can give great relief and comfort to the family.”

“I genuinely love what I get to do,” she said. “The dying process can be very difficult to navigate. It is an honor to be a very small part of their journey.”