Have You Thought About Death and Dying?
I think about Solvay Hospice House and hospice services every day. But that’s probably only because I work at the Miller-Dwan Foundation. The Miller-Dwan Foundation owns the 12-bed Solvay Hospice House and works every day to assure that it and its care program will continue well into the future. Sustaining Solvay, however, is not the focus of my hospice thinking.
Every moment, and every luxury, matters
You know that feeling you have after having been sick? Maybe you’ve been in bed for days or you’ve been trundling around in last week’s pajamas. You have no energy, and the last thing you feel like doing is dragging yourself to the shower. But when you finally do, you feel better. At Solvay Hospice House, it’s the same. Because
ZeroG: Life-Changing Physical Therapy Equipment
Something amazing has happened at the Miller-Dwan Medical Center. Thanks to a new piece of physical therapy equipment funded by an anonymous donor and the Miller-Dwan Foundation, Lisa has walked for the first time in two months. The equipment, call the ZeroG Gait and Balance System is a robotic body-weight support system on an overhead track that allows patients to
Our Furry Friends
Nova, our beloved 120-pound friend, has just turned two years old! “She is very excited to not be a tween any longer,” says her trainer, Jack. Nova has a heart of gold, is willing to share her skills and talents with anyone she meets. Her presence is calming, and you can’t help but fall in love with her the moment
Messages of Gratitude from Amberwing
At Amberwing-Center for Youth & Family Well-Being, children and families experience the best possible short-term intensive mental health and substance use treatment available, learning lifelong skills that help them heal. Here, patients share their advice and inspiration for others entering the program.
Speech Therapy Innovations at Polinsky
Perhaps most well-known for their work with patients who are recovering after a stroke, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) provide a wide range of services to help people with everything from swallowing and singing, to breathing and speaking. And, thanks to support from the Miller-Dwan Foundation, which is made possible by donors like you, SLPs at Polinsky Medical Center Rehabilitation are doing
Coming Together to Support Early Childhood Mental Health
The foundation for sound mental health is built early in life. From birth to age 3, our experiences with parents, caregivers, relatives, teachers, and peers shape our developing brains. When this developmental process is disrupted, our capacity for learning and relating to others can be impaired, with lifelong consequences. This is why early detection and intervention for mental health issues
We Can Weekend Focuses on Families Affected by Cancer
When someone receives a cancer diagnosis, it’s not merely the patient who is affected, but the lives of an entire family. For this reason, the Caring Way Cancer Resource Center began hosting “We Can Weekend” 28 years ago for families living with cancer. The weekend retreat, held at YMCA Camp Miller in Sturgeon Lake, MN, is made possible with the
Just 20 Minutes Can Change Your Brainwaves and Your Outlook
Patients suffering from anxiety, insomnia and depression are now being treated with new, cutting-edge technology at the Miller-Dwan Behavioral Health department. Rather than receiving medicine in pill form, they are being prescribed 20-minute sessions of electromedical technology. The Miller-Dwan Foundation recently funded the purchase of Alpha-Stim devices that generate unique, patented waveforms clinically proven to relieve anxiety, insomnia and depression
Solvay Nurse Dispels Common Myths About Hospice Care
Tami Vukonich, RN, wouldn’t change anything about her job as a nurse at Solvay Hospice House in Duluth, MN. What she would change, however, is the general misconception people have about end-of-life care. “There is a stigma surrounding hospice care,” Vukonich says. “People think it’s about dying, when really it’s about living the best life possible during your final days.”
