Graceful Days Nonprofit Offers Support and Guidance During Life’s Final Stages

When Niki Glynos-Wolford arrived in Kansas City with her newborn son 16 years ago to visit her dying mother, she realized the process was further along than she had initially thought, requiring more intensive care. Over the next five weeks, as she took on her new role as a caregiver, the fear of her mother’s death loomed.

Despite complicated family dynamics that left her with little help, she reached out to an aunt in the area during this period and asked if she could bring over some groceries. After learning about the situation, her aunt suggested taking her mother to a hospice house where she’d have more support.

“She came and told us about a hospice house — a place where people can go and be well-supported in their final days and stages of life,” Glynos-Wolford said.

Shortly after, an ambulance picked up Glynos-Wolford’s mother and transported her to the hospice house where medical staff administered pain medication and provided comfort in her final week of life.

“At that moment, I became a daughter instead of a caregiver,” Glynos-Wolford said. “She ended up at the hospice house, and it was really the most beautiful experience of having a doctor and a nurse on either side and to be there for questions and support and to have a timeline of everything that was happening. It was a totally different experience, and I felt pretty blessed that all of it happened the way it did.”

In the years since Glynos-Wolford’s mother died, she has also lost her father and a handful of friends. As the losses stacked up, she found herself assuming various caregiving roles, whether it was fulfilling her dad’s dying wishes or moving in with friends during their final weeks of life.

As she continued organically along this path, Glynos-Wolford adopted the official title of a death doula, completing training for the certification, working for a hospice and as a chaplain.

Depending on her client’s wishes, Glynos-Wolford offers services such as respite care, end-of-life paperwork, organizing celebration-of-life events, offering spiritual guidance, and supporting the family during any stage of death.  

Two years ago, Glynos-Wolford founded Graceful Days, a Flathead Valley-based nonprofit organization with a team of volunteers providing respite care, therapeutic services, massage and acupuncture while offering emotional support for those in hospice.

As the nonprofit gains momentum, Glynos-Wolford is fundraising for a hospice house, like the one available for her mother in Kansas City, where individuals can stay in a peaceful setting surrounded by medical staff and Graceful Days volunteers, regardless of their financial or caregiver support situation.

As part of the Omega Home Network, an organization with roughly 100 hospice homes nationwide, Graceful Days will serve individuals already enrolled in hospice at Logan Health, Enhabit Home Health and Hospice, or Stillwater Hospice.

“In order for them to come to the home, they have to be on hospice first because we will do the caregiving, emotional, physical and spiritual support, but hospice will come in and help manage the pain meds as if somebody was at home — because you can’t be on hospice if you live alone,” Glynos-Wolford said.

Equipped with nurses on the board of directors and the support of a medical director, Glynos-Wolford is currently on the hunt for a house to set up shop.

“We’re doing fundraising and we have an amazing board, and we’ve been doing a lot of outreach to support the movement and so far, we’ve had an amazing amount of donors and people interested in volunteering, whether that’s bedside, administrative or gardening, but right now we’re looking for a home,” Glynos-Wolford said. “So once that happens, we’ll get the volunteers ready, and this home will be open to those who need a place.”

When Kevin Tseng lost his father in February and his mother the previous October, he would have preferred a hospice house compared to the skilled nursing facility and memory care unit where his parents took their last breaths.

While he has no qualms with either facility, he described a hectic environment, and he sees the value of a hospice house that will provide a sense of peace.

“I know Niki is really dedicating herself to the hospice home and I didn’t understand what that meant before,” Tseng said. “I now understand that is such a needed place. It could have provided so much more comfort to have my mom and dad in a place like that.”

Tseng first connected with Glynos-Wolford a few months before his mother died of cancer last fall, when she helped him and his brother navigate the process while offering emotional, spiritual and practical support through their parents’ deaths. He described a heavy weight that was lifted after seeking help.

“Even though I’ve been heavily involved with my parents the last five-and-a-half years and I’m very detail-oriented, the ability to turn that over to somebody else — the ability to just step back and allow somebody else to bear a little of that burden so I could just be there truly as their son — that was a great relief to me.”

To volunteer for Graceful Days, email [email protected].

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