I spent the last few days in and out of a hospice. I’d never been to such a place before.

Long story short: my mother had an 87-year-old boyfriend named Bob who she had been with for the past 15 years. He was diagnosed with a terminal condition about seven months ago.

My mother and Bob, who traveled quite a bit anyway, spent most of the past seven months on the road, hitting cities all over the world. They had a fantastic time traveling, and Bob stayed remarkably well for their trips. He was eating in restaurants and attended a theater performance less than a week before he died.

Bob had arranged with the hospice to help him through the process, and he kept dropping by its offices and being told he wasn’t quite ready for the full treatment. He kept doing what he was doing and going on hard and fast with his life.

Then on Sunday, six days before he died, things changed. His breathing was suddenly affected by his condition. Things progressed quickly, and he was gone by the end of the week.

He was at home from Sunday until Thursday afternoon, when the hospice nurse suggested that he move to the facility. I had been at his home on and off during the week and thought that it made sense for him to have round-the-clock care. He was moved to the hospice.

Going Beyond the Expected

I was in and out of the hospice only a couple of times before Bob passed away, but the place made quite an impression during my short visits. Mostly I was affected by the people who work there.

My interactions with the employees were powerfully positive. They were warm, generous, and caring. Somehow, they transmitted all of that in just a few sentences with each visit. They knew how to make everyone feel better, if not good, about what was happening. It was all kind of amazing and totally unexpected.

On top of the people was the place. It was perky. There were flowers everywhere. There were bunches of people with families gathered for picnics and card games. People were sitting out under the gazebo and strolling along the paths. I was having extreme cognitive dissonance reconciling the atmosphere and surroundings with the reality of people dying all around me.

The Power of Exceptional Customer Service

We left the hospice feeling great about the work its staff did for Bob and the work they do for families. I’ve already raved about the hospice to others.

As lawyers, we face challenging situations with our clients. We’ve got to find ways to make them happy and keep them satisfied. The outcomes won’t always be good. Sometimes unexpected things will happen. The work we do presents challenges when it comes to satisfying our clients. However, it’s not impossible, even in incredibly difficult circumstances, to leave our clients satisfied and recommending our services to others. If hospice can do it, we can do it too.