Staff Profile: Marilyn Jankowski and Karri Kaiser

Social Workers Return

This past year has seen a lot of new staff at Mission Hospice, but it’s also seen the return of two familiar faces, social workers Marilyn Jankowski and Karri Kaiser.

Jankowski, who was director of Social Work at Mission Hospice from 2000 to 2004, returned this February after working at Via Services in Santa Clara. Kaiser, who worked at Mission Hospice between 2003 and 2007, came back earlier after six months away.

The women are delighted to be working together again. Both view hospice work as an opportunity to help in one of the more intense and intimate times a family will experience.

“There’s a sense in families that time is short so there’s less fluff,” said Kaiser. “You can see in a short time that people are dealing with issues and relationships that may have been around for the past 70 years.”

Both say that returning was a leap of faith that the organization has improved. So far, they say, they haven’t been disappointed.

“We’re the first people out seeing the patients now,” said Jankowski. “It seems the psychosocial aspect of hospice care is respected. It makes all the difference in the world.”

Kaiser said the whole process seems to go more smoothly when they are the first to meet the families and patients to explain what hospice does and doesn’t do. They usually meet with families at once or twice a month.

“Social workers do informational and psychosocial visits,” she explained. “It’s partly education but it’s also pre-bereavement support. Often people are in shock because they’ve just heard the news that they or a loved one is dying. I think we set it up so that the nurse is welcome when he or she arrives to do the medical assessment.”

Jankowski and Kaiser said that they also feel like equal members of a multidisciplinary team in which nurses and social workers communicate well.

“We also can brainstorm with our colleagues,” said Kaiser. “Sometimes families will mention an issue to use that they didn’t mention to the nurses, and vice versa.”

The two social workers say they are optimistic about Mission Hospice.

“It looks like it’s going in a good direction,” said Jankowski. Kaiser agreed. “We’re starting with the assumption that we have a good staff and we are all doing the best we can for our patients.”