Supporting Compassionate Care

Art Birney spent much of his adventurous life sailing around the world, even authoring two books on celestial navigation. A lively spirit with a great sense of humor, he was often known to pull a quarter out the ear of young people he met. Just a few years ago, Art moved to Oasis, the residential memory care unit at Sibley Memorial Hospital. While he ultimately succumbed to complications from vascular dementia, the Birney family was inspired by the compassionate care he received and were moved to donate to the palliative care program at Sibley.

“This journey is different for everyone, and I wanted to give because dementia is not something that many people talk about,” explains Art’s son, Lex.

Given his family’s longtime association with Sibley, the Birney family appreciated that the Renaissance Skilled Nursing Facility and Oasis were part of the hospital. Lex and his mother, Alison, wanted to recognize the people that had cared so well for Art during his time at Sibley. Lex recalled clearly the extraordinary care his father received, recognizing caregivers who became like family. He remembers that his family was able to gather on numerous occasions for birthdays and holidays in the Grand Oaks Assisted Living Community at Sibley and how his father, an Air Force and Army veteran, was specially recognized at a Veteran’s Day celebration.

“We need to address the many issues that surround caring for our elders. Oasis was a great fit for a compassionate way to care for my dad in his last chapter,” Lex says. “Additionally, Dr. Sandra Pedraza is indeed a gem, and I would hope the palliative care program, under her leadership, will expand and thrive beyond cancer palliative care. We are eternally thankful for the team at Oasis and the care they gave to my dad and to us as a family.”

The family also gave to the Sibley Senior Association’s Club Memory program, a supportive social group for people with mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and their care partners.

“In 2021, Club Memory is celebrating 10 years of providing stigma-free social support, modeling, community building, advance care planning, and more to people and their care partners who are living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias,” explains Marti Brown Bailey, director of Senior Services at Sibley. “Beginning with 10 people in the Sibley cafeteria, Club Memory now serves more than 700 people and is a recent nominee of Insight Memory Care Center’s 2021 Excellence in Memory Care Award.”