Producer’s Personal Crusade : Father’s Death Spurs Founding of Hospice

Stung by the slow, painful cancer death of a father and friend, two founders of Lorimar Productions say their unique hospice in the shadow of the Las Vegas Strip offers new hope for the right to die with dignity.

Merv Adelson, who oversees such television hits as “Dallas” and “Falcon Crest” in his role as Lorimar chairman, calls the 2 1/2-year-old Nathan Adelson Hospice on the University of Nevada-Las Vegas campus his labor of love.

“Terminally ill people have a right to die with dignity, and their families should be in a position where they can deal with it in an acceptable way,” said Adelson, recalling his father’s agonizing death by cancer seven years ago.

Adelson and partner Irwin Molasky, a Lorimar vice president and director, are currently calling in due bills among show business elite for a Feb. 8 entertainment extravaganza in Las Vegas to raise money for the hospice program.

Cary Grant and Barbara Walters cut special taped invitations for the event, billed the Butterfly Ball. “Dallas” stars Larry Hagman, Victoria Principal and Linda Gray are among 30 celebrities scheduled to appear at the fund-raiser at the MGM Grand Hotel. Local residents will join the cast of the hotel’s $10-million “Jubilee” stage show for the evening’s entertainment.

$750,000 Goal

Molasky, who is chairman of the ball, says the charity event should raise $500,000 to $750,000 to help support the $3-million hospice.

Adelson and Molasky have been partners in a number of Las Vegas developments, including construction of Sunrise Hospital in 1958.

“As the hospital began to grow, we asked my father to come from Los Angeles to help us out,” Adelson recalled recently.

Nathan Adelson headed Sunrise for 20 years, gaining national recognition as a hospital administrator. He died of cancer in 1978.

“What was amazing to me was that, as loved as my father was by all of the doctors, there was a lack of dignity in his death that was appalling,” Adelson recalled. “Shortly after his death I heard about the hospice program and made a trip to England (the forerunner in hospice programs) to learn more about it. We felt this was something that was terribly needed in America.”

Adelson and Molasky began working to build a hospice to memorialize their father and friend. Today, although there are hundreds of hospice programs operating within existing hospitals, the Nathan Adelson Hospice is one of only three facilities built from the ground up for just that purpose.

Psychological Care

“Hospice care is different than hospital care,” Adelson said. “Once somebody is definitely terminal, more and more doctors are realizing that they can allow the patient to live his time out in a better way by receiving hospice care. Hospice care allows you to treat pain and provide psychological care in a way you can’t possibly get with hospitals.”

“Americans are great at raising children, dealing with topics from birth to marriage to job counseling,” Molasky added. “But no one likes to deal with death. A hospice program is a way for patients to live their last months with dignity.”

A hospice program focuses on the quality of life that remains when a patient’s diagnosis becomes terminal. It is designed for patients for whom the goal is comfort and peace, rather than cure.

For an 11-year-old Las Vegas girl, dying of a brain tumor last Christmas, the Adelson Hospice provided a home atmosphere rather than sterile hospital surroundings. A nurse brought a horse to a patio off the girl’s room and the child spent a brisk December afternoon petting the animal and feeding it an apple. Later, classmates from her school came by to sing Christmas carols. The girl died in January.

For Evelyn DiMatteo, 49, who is diagnosed as having terminal lung cancer, hospice workers help her deal with those times “when I become so scared.”

Time at Home

Like many hospice patients, she is encouraged to spend as much time at her home as her health will allow, with hospice nurses on call to help when needed.

“I’ve told my family if I get too bad the hospice is the one place I want to be,” she said, forcing her words through vocal chords nearly paralyzed by the disease. “They’re warm and loving. And that’s what we need when we’re so sick.”

Adelson said he hopes the Las Vegas facility can become a pilot for other hospice programs around the country.

“There are only one or two anywhere that can compare to what we’re doing in Las Vegas,” Adelson said.

The 20-bed hospice and its home-care program have served hundreds of terminal patients. The facility is designed to duplicate home surroundings. There are five separate living room-kitchen areas with four patient rooms surrounding each. The living rooms have fireplaces and dining areas, and family members are encouraged to cook meals in the warm surroundings.

There is a chapel and, down the hall, a coping room, where relatives and hospice workers can go for solitude. The room is soundproof and equipped with a punching bag.

Pets Can Visit

Family and friends--even pets--can visit 24 hours a day.

“We try to meet the needs of the patient and family, rather than making them meet our needs,” said hospice administrator Rick Benedict.

A pain-relieving mixture containing morphine, called “hospice mix,” is administered as needed so discomfort is kept to a minimum.

“We don’t do any heroic or extraordinary measures here” such as life support systems, Benedict said.

A total of 130 physicians are on staff or on call at the hospice. Nurses are trained to deal with the emotional and medical needs of the terminally ill patient and his family.

Hospice lifeline groups provide counseling for all ages, from children who have lost parents to adults who have lost children or spouses.