Hospice client turns 100 with special celebration

The one thing that Joyce Patterson wanted for her birthday was to spend time with a horse.

Patterson turned 100 on Monday, Aug. 3. Thanks to her niece, Judy Umbdenstock, and OSF HealthCare’s hospice program, where Patterson is a patient, she got her wish.

Hank, a brown, 28-year-old quarter horse from Braveheart Therapeutic Riding & Educational Center in Poplar Grove, paid a special visit to Patterson at her Rockford home on Monday afternoon. Patterson was all smiles as she stood to take pictures with Hank, gave him a few pets and even a hug.

Patterson previously lived in Florida before moving to the Midwest. “She’s been a very independent, loving person,” said her niece, Judy, who has cared for Patterson for the past six years.

“Joyce is such a special patient of ours,” said Barb Johnson, manager, OSF Hospice. “She looks so forward to our nurses, aides and social worker visits. She calls them her ‘little visitors.’ She has established such a rapport and they with her, also.”

Asked the key to living such a long life, Patterson said “don’t smoke, don’t drink, get your exercise and enjoy life.”