At Ohio’s Hospice, we believe Veterans deserve nothing less than superior care delivered with the dignity and honor they’ve earned. American Pride^® Veteran Care by Ohio’s Hospice is our commitment to ensuring every Veteran patient receives specialized care that recognizes their unique service and sacrifice. 

It’s more than just traditional hospice care though. 

Every Veteran patient is invited to participate in a special recognition ceremony where they receive an American Pride pin, presented by a fellow Veteran volunteer who understands the significance of their service. 

These are meaningful events for our Veterans and their families. For the family of Harry Hahn, it meant even more. Harry, a Navy Veteran, had been in our inpatient unit in Dayton and, according to daughter Karen Hahn, he had begun to “shut down. 

“He wasn’t speaking at all,” she said. “Very little engaging with any of us.” 

But when Veteran Volunteer John Abel began the ceremony and started to speak, Harry perked up and became lucid as John talked about their military service. 

“He even remembered things about the ship he was on, and the name of the ship, and I was blown away,” Karen said. “We were all like, ‘what?’ Shocked.” 

Members of Harry’s family will be able cherish these final moments forever because the entire event was captured via cellphone. 

“That video is really the last interaction we had with dad,” Karen said. “He died a week later. It’s like he pulled all his energy together, and he was so proud of that. After that, he shut down again and went on his other journey.” 

Karen said talking about his time in the Navy was what likely energized her father during the ceremony. 

“I think it was his service,” she said. “His pride in being acknowledged for his time in the service. He probably didn’t have many experiences in life where he was even acknowledged for that. I also think it was another veteran talking to him and sharing the experience. None of us could have talked to him like that. Dad probably didn’t have many opportunities to actually communicate with a fellow Navy person. And I think that probably pulled him out of it enough to want to communicate about it.” 

The ceremony also gave Harry’s family a glimpse inside another side of him. 

“My dad never really talked about his time in the service because it was peacetime,” Karen said. “He wasn’t in a war. He didn’t have any traumatic experience to carry with him through life, like a lot of Veterans. So he never really would talk about his time in the military. I kind of got to know a new part of my dad, like a part of his life I didn’t really know that much about.” 

Meaningful moments like this are what embody our organization’s mission of Celebrating Life’s Stories^®. 

“Oh, I think that’s awesome,” she said of American Pride. “My sister (Sue Seitz) has the flag, and we cherish it, and she has a flagpole, which she will definitely fly it.” 

We thank all of our Veteran patients for their service.