A Heart for Healing
In the quiet moments between heartbeats and breaths, Janice’s hands offer more than just a touch—they offer a deep sense of peace. With each light gesture, anxiety melts, tension lifts, and a quiet comfort settles into the soul. For the past year, Janice, one of Angela Hospice’s newest volunteers, has generously offered her services, providing Healing Touch therapies to Angela Hospice patients. For Janice, this is more than just a practice, it is a calling—a way to offer not only healing, but a sense of peace in the midst of life’s most challenging transitions.
Janice’s introduction to Angela Hospice came through a personal experience. Her mother-in-law was a patient at the Livonia Care Center in 1997. Though she was only here for a few days before passing, Janice remembers the care and comfort that her family felt. “We felt protected and cared for,” she recalled. That experience stayed with her, planting the seed for Janice’s return as a volunteer.
Healing Touch is a relaxing, nurturing, energy-based therapy, commonly performed in a quiet area with gentle music playing, while recipients remain fully clothed. By keeping the hands a few inches off the body in the energy field, the practice assists in balancing physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. Research suggests that Healing Touch may benefit some patients by creating a sense of well-being, decreasing pain, deepening spiritual connection, enhancing end-of-life care, promoting relaxation, and reducing anxiety.
After a distinguished career that spanned critical care nursing at Providence Hospital, serving the homeless through Detroit Healthcare for the Homeless, and teaching future nurses at Henry Ford College, Janice found herself drawn to a different kind of healing. As she retired in 2021, Janice’s passion for holistic care was reignited, and she found a way to combine her nursing expertise with her love for alternative healing practices.
“Retirement has given me the space to focus on the healing practices I’m passionate about,” she said. “It has also allowed me time to volunteer here at Angela Hospice.”
What Janice finds especially remarkable about Angela Hospice is the sense of peace that envelops the space. “As soon as I walk in, I sense and feel the peace,” she shared. “It’s such a soothing environment, and that sense of calm translates to the patients and their families. Everyone here is so kind and thankful for the volunteer’s’ work, but honestly, I’m the one who feels grateful. I receive so much more than I give.”
Beyond her nursing career, Janice is a loving mother of two and a devoted wife of 43 years to her husband. Now in retirement, Janice has found a new way to nurture and care for others. Her journey, though long, is far from over—it’s just found a new path at Angela Hospice.
While Janice may be relatively new to volunteering at Angela Hospice, having started her training in April 2024, her confidence and skills are growing every week. She is well on her way to completing her certification as a Healing Touch practitioner and continues to bring comfort and healing to those in need.
“It’s uplifting for me as much as it is for the patients and their families,” Janice said.
Her journey is a beautiful reminder of the power of compassion, and her work at Angela Hospice reflects the organization’s mission to provide not just physical care, but peace, comfort, and healing for the soul.
