Freda H. Gordon, spent her life nurturing her family and community. Now her legacy of caring and compassion will live on through the Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care.
To honor her life and her work, Gordon’s family is ensuring that all members of the community can end their lives comfortably and peacefully. Our goal being that each patient receive the highest quality of hospice and palliative care, while also being surrounded by their loved ones.
“Freda Gordon was a modest and quiet heroine who was dedicated to her family, community, synagogue, and Israel. She was extremely supportive of Jewish education and making sure that our youth received a start in life that was fortified by our Jewish teachings, morals, and ethics. Now, because of Freda, her family is making sure that all members of the community can end their lives the way that they began – surrounded by their loved ones, supported by their community, and comforted by their faith,” says Harry Graber, Executive Vice President of the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater Inc.
In addition to her role as loving wife, mother and grandmother, Gordon was truly a caregiver for the entire community. For more than 30 years she worked at the Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters as a pharmacist. While also nurturing future professionals through teaching pharmacology at DePaul Hospital. Sadly, during this time she occasionally witnessed negative patient outcomes, as well as individual and family suffering. It was then that she expressed to her family – when her time came, she did not wish to linger.
“My mom cared deeply about end of life issues,” states Steven Gordon. “She watched her father suffer from cancer treatments in the 1960’s, which were much harsher at the time. She wanted others to be more comfortable in his or her last days. She wanted to die with dignity and was adamant she did not want to suffer.”
When Freda suddenly became ill in the fall of 2011, hospice services were brought into the home rather quickly. “We had been utilizing JFS for home health services,” continues Steven. “We had to quickly transition from JFS to a hospice agency that did not know us. Compounded with the imminent loss of a loved one, it was very stressful. It would have been seamless to transition into hospice care with the same organization.”
In the spirit of Freda H. Gordon, who never had a want for fanfare, we hope that her love of helping those in need is evident and shown through our efforts within this organization.
