December 12, 2025 at 11:40 a.m.
Spurley retires after three decades of hospice work
Pam Spurley found her calling in an area most people don’t want to talk about.
She retired last week after 31 years as a certified nursing assistant and 22 years as volunteer coordinator for Upland Hills Health (UHH) Hospice, along with home care.
“There are professionals to bring people into the world and professions to help people on their way out,” she said. “When people say, ‘How can you do that work,’ my response is ‘How can you not?’”
UHH Hospice is a team effort with the medical director, pharmacists, hospice nurses and nursing assistants, hospice social workers and bereavement counselors, spiritual counselors, volunteer coordinator and volunteers.
Hospice team members go to homes and facilities across five counties.
“People let you into their homes at the most vulnerable time,” Spurley said. “We are there to help.”
Families want to honor their loved one’s wishes to die at home, but have no idea how to manage. Hospice provides education and support for patients and their families.
It is difficult to put into words, but being present when someone dies is “a powerful experience,” she said.
Entering hospice usually means a person has six months or less to live.
“You have to meet people where they are at,” she said. “People don’t want to give up. Families don’t want to give up. But it comes to a point where there is no more treatment. We will work for you to give you the best life you can have until the end of your life.
"Death is never easy, but when our hospice team can say it was a good death, comfort and pain management has been accomplished,” she said.
Society does not want to talk about death, but people in hospice have much to tell us.
“I’ve learned to appreciate every day. I have learned that not all families are the same, and not all families grieve the same,” said Spurley.
Hospice volunteers are the non-medical people who visit the patient, often for companionship and communication. They can stay with the patient while the family member runs errands or even help to address cards and letters to the patient’s loved ones. One helped finish a quilt a patient wanted to give to her daughter.
Spurley will probably volunteer for hospice herself “down the road,” she said.
Her daughter Tesha (Heberlein) Daranga celebrated Spurley’s retirement with a Facebook post that said “Mom has always been passionate about her work — and truly exceptional at it. She formed deep, meaningful connections with the families she served, entering their homes with kindness, respect and a heart for caregiving. She consistently went above and beyond, treating every patient and loved one as if they were part of her own family.”
