Bereavement Coordinator

Lutheran Senior Services • Saint Louis, MO

2d

About The Position

The Bereavement Coordinator provides bereavement and social services assistance to hospice patients and their families. The role oversees the bereavement program, offers education and emotional support, responds to emergent counseling needs, and develops and facilitates grief-related programming for hospice and community participants. The coordinator works with interdisciplinary teams to assess psychosocial and bereavement needs, develop and revise plans of care, and support patients and families through end-of-life care, care transitions, and discharge planning.

The position also provides short-term counseling and crisis intervention, assesses grief-related risks and psychosocial concerns, helps families access community resources, and educates them about social-service issues such as placement, finances, advance directives, and funeral planning. The coordinator documents care in the medical record system and communicates relevant psychosocial information with care teams and other facilities.

The role involves community travel and work with patients and families in varied circumstances, including acute, chronic, and terminal illness. The position requires the ability to meet the assignment’s physical demands, maintain objectivity when coping with stress, and use the medical record system for documentation.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Ability to follow instructions from physicians, nursing supervisors, and other professional staff.
• Ability to communicate effectively with managers, patients, families, and coworkers.
• Ability to assess safety in home situations for oneself, patients, and other staff, including physical and psychological dangers.
• Ability to cope effectively with patients, families, and others from varied backgrounds, socioeconomic conditions, and value systems.
• Computer skills and excellent communication skills.
• Ability to maintain confidentiality of information relating to patients and families, sharing only care- and treatment-related information with those directly involved.
• Ability to complete all physical demands of the assignment.
• Corrected vision and hearing within normal range, manual dexterity, and normal range of motion of all extremities.
• Ability to maintain objectivity while coping with the stress of working with acute, chronic, and terminally ill patients.
• Ability to enter data into the EMR system and read normal typewritten print.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience with a Medicare hospice program.
• Participation in community agency activities.

Responsibilities

• Oversee all aspects of the bereavement program, including mailings, phone calls, memorial services, and bereavement visits.
• Provide bereavement education and support to hospice patients, family members, community members, and others who request assistance.
• Respond to emergent situations involving bereavement counseling.
• Develop and present bereavement-related programming based on community and hospice program needs.
• Plan and participate in group memorial services for staff, bereaved individuals, and the community.
• Participate in interdisciplinary team meetings to assess bereavement needs and establish bereavement plans of care.
• Plan and facilitate a community grief support group.
• Assess the need for counseling through risk assessment for pathological grief.
• Assess emotional factors related to terminal illness, caregivers’ ability to function, cultural and special needs, and patient and family responses to psychosocial interventions.
• Help physicians and other interdisciplinary team members recognize and understand social or mental stress and disorders that exacerbate terminal-illness symptoms.
• Assess patient and family psychosocial status, potential suicide or abuse and neglect risks, family dynamics, and communication patterns.
• Participate in developing and revising plans of care, provide care according to physician orders, and involve patients and families in care planning.
• Assess environmental resources and obstacles to maintaining safety.
• Provide short-term individual counseling, crisis intervention, assistance with advance directives and funeral planning, and support with transferring fiscal, legal, and health-care decision-making responsibilities.
• Use the medical record software system on a laptop or agency desktop to document patient care; initiate documentation in the patient’s home and complete it after the visit.
• Prepare clinical and progress notes and submit them according to agency policy.
• Identify and use appropriate community resources and assess patients’ and families’ ability to access them.
• Educate patients and families about social-service issues, including long-term placement, financial issues, and funeral planning.
• Identify support systems to reduce stress and facilitate coping with end-of-life care.
• Evaluate the need for long-term care and assess ability to accept changes in level of care; communicate psychosocial information to inpatient facilities when the level of care changes.
• Identify patient and family needs upon discharge or a change in level of care.
• Serve as liaison between patients or families and community agencies.
• Participate in discharge planning and interdisciplinary care team meetings; assist with developing and reviewing care plans, admissions, and discharges.
• Provide educational programs to staff and the community.

Benefits

• Paid Time Off (PTO) and PTO sell-back.
• Retirement savings benefits with an employer match contribution.
• Education Financial Assistance.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Wellness benefits.
• Pay advances through PayActiv.
• Caregiver support through TCARE.
• Leaves of absence.
• Retail deals and discounts through Perkspot.
• Commuter support.
• For part-time employees: extended sick pay, bereavement pay, and jury duty pay.
• For full-time or Weekend Option employees: medical and pharmacy coverage, dental insurance, vision insurance, flexible spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care, life insurance, short- and long-term disability, Voya income protection benefits for hospital, critical illness, and accident, and pet insurance.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time