Hospice - A Family Affair

Mission Hospice mother/daughter volunteers Suzanne and Nicole Bruce know that when co-workers mention the great spirit of a San Bruno patient, the person in question can only be their grandmother/great-grandmother, Regina “Queen” Malaspina.

At 95, Regina – also known as Reggie – still lives in the home she and her husband bought in 1952.

“When you tell her how old she is, she just says 'No way,'” says daughter Kay Stickney, her mother’s primary caregiver.

“They don’t make ’em like me anymore,” agrees Reggie, who also is under the watchful eyes of her longtime neighbors. The man next door comes over every morning to have coffee with her and make sure she’s up.

“It’s too bad he’s too young for me,” remarks Regina, who also has a caregiver later in the morning. Someone from the family spends the night and Kay and her husband, Kevin, spend Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Reggie’s Mission Hospice volunteer, Rosalie Guillen, also is a good personal friend who visits three days a week. Reggie says she never has a minute to herself. “We’re all doing the best we can because we love you,” Kay tells her mother.

Reggie was born in Philadelphia but raised in Italy before returning to the U.S. in her 20s. She and her sister worked for a posh dressmaking firm in New York where they modeled hats and shoes. Reggie even made dresses for former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Her husband, Angelo, was born in San Francisco but the couple met and married in New York.

They later moved back to California, and Angelo became a lathe operator at Ampex in Redwood City. They raised two sons and daughter Kay in San Bruno, where other family members also settled. “We’re from a strict Italian family,” said Kay. “We didn’t leave this home until we were married. My mother has been a caretaker most of her life.”

Suzanne and Nicole, who are Kay’s nieces, became hospice volunteers about two years ago. Nicole, who at 22 is Mission Hospice’s youngest volunteer caregiver, said she thought it would be good experience for a nursing career. “It’s really opened my horizons,” she said. “I don’t view death as a bad thing now, but something everyone has to do.”

Suzanne wanted to support Nicole and also explore her own nursing instincts. But when she suggested Reggie start hospice care, the rest of the family got a little upset.

“We thought it meant she was going to die,” Kay said. “Now, I realize it just means she’s living with more people caring for her.”

Left to right: Kay Stickney, Kevin Stickney, Regina Malaspina, Suzanne Bruce, Nicole Bruce