Hospice salutes Southern Nevada veterans
Keith Buck silently stared at the piece of paper in his hands.
It had stars and stripes. It had his name. It mentioned courage and patriotism.
Sitting in his motorized scooter in his living room Friday, the Army veteran had few words to say about the certificate in front of him.
"This is really something," he said.
His red, teary eyes said so much more.
Buck is 76 and has Parkinson's disease, a degenerative disorder of the nervous system that affects the body's movement. He is under the care of Nathan Adelson Hospice.
Throughout the week leading up to Veterans Day, volunteers and workers for the hospice made special visits to the roughly 50 patients in the Las Vegas Valley and Pahrump who served in the armed forces. Each one received a certificate honoring them for their service and a star-spangled ribbon they could hang from their door.
The honors were a first for the hospice, whose own veterans on staff conceived the idea as a way to show their pride in the men and women who served their country, said Diane Smith, who oversees patient care for the hospice.
Buck received his honors from social worker Kara Hill, who heads the hospice veterans committee that came up with the idea. The Parkinson's started 13 years ago and has sapped the former bull rider's ability to walk well. His scooter gets him around, though.
At one point, his wife, Sharon, held a framed black-and-white photo of her young and smiling husband in his Army uniform.
"That was a long time ago," he said.
He stared at the certificate in his hands again.
"I'll frame this," he said.
Response by the veterans has been nothing but positive, Smith said.
She recounted a visit earlier in the week where a nurse visited another Parkinson's patient. The disease had hunched his body forward and left his hands all but useless.
His wife was feeding him at the breakfast table when the nurse arrived. When she showed him the certificate, he read it, mustered the strength to raise his hand and gave her a salute.
Contact reporter Brian Haynes at bhaynes@review journal.com or 702-383-0281.
