Orval’s Big Day Out - CNS Senior Wish

Home bound for over two years—a hospice patient finally gets his wish.

With advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and on hospice with CNS since late 2019, Orval Hayes had been bed-ridden for two years, and was unable to leave his home since before the pandemic. 

One of our CNS chaplains, Roy Olson has visited Orval weekly for most of this time. Roy has enjoyed these visits and shares, “Orval is such a neat guy. People like him always bring your day back up—he’s that encouraging. I always save my visit with him for the last one in the day because he is such a joy to be around.” 

Orval often spoke about his wish to venture outside, and Roy set to work to figure out how we might accomplish his wish in the spring of 2022 through the CNS Senior Wish Program. Roy asked, “If you could get out of the house, where would you like to go?” Orval immediately grabbed a piece of paper and started making a list of the local places that were most meaningful to him throughout his life. On a different visit, Roy asked, “Do you have any ideas of how we might get you out of your home?” This wasn’t an easy feat, as Orval’s bedroom is in the basement and the only way out is through a door on his first floor. Orval had lots of ideas, including removing walls and windows, but it was Roy who thought of partnering with the South Davis Metro Fire department. 

Roy stopped by the fire department and described Orval’s situation to them. They were thrilled to help by carrying Orval out of his home so he could go on a tour of some of his favorite places. CNS also partnered with a medical transport company, Wheelchair Express, to accomplish Orval’s wish. Once he was carried out of his home, the transport company agreed to drive him on his personalized tour for three hours. 

Once all of the logistics were settled, Roy had the special opportunity to share the news with Orval. He said he still tears up when he remembers the moment and being able to tell Orval, “We’re going to get you out of your house!” Roy says, “I can’t explain the look on Orval’s face when I shared the news with him. It was pure joy.”

When the day came for Orval’s tour, Roy started worrying about all the things that could go wrong and Orval reassured him by saying, “Listen, if they can just get me out of the house and set me in the driveway, this will be a big success!” Luckily, there was nothing to worry about and the adventure went off without a hitch.

Forty of Orval’s friends and family members were waiting to greet him at the final stop of the tour, his son’s ice cream shop. Orval was ecstatic to see so many people at Big Hazy’s Ice Cream who he hadn’t seen in years. He spent an hour and a half shaking hands and catching up with loved ones and even enjoyed a scoop of his favorite ice cream flavor, black walnut.  

“The best part of my big day out was getting to see all the places that mean something to me. When my father retired, he got into fishing, and we spent a lot of good times at the Farmington Pond. As we were driving to my childhood home, I got to see my grandfather’s old farm where I used to pick radishes and cherries as a kid. It was a great tour of my life—I got to see all of the things I wanted to see one more time before I go.” 

When reflecting about the experience, Roy says, “It was one of the most amazing things I have ever been a part of.” Roy took lots of pictures during the tour and his wife, Misty, made Orval and his family a special memory book to commemorate his big day out. 

When asked about the team at CNS, Orval shared that, “Roy is one of the neatest people on earth. The Senior Wish Program is such a great program filled with special people and the staff at CNS are amazing. I just love my aides, Hannah and Victoria, to pieces. My nurse, Deanna, does just a wonderful job. They are all angels. Dr. Jensen actually cares about me. We often talk about books we’ve read or trips he goes on and most doctors don’t really talk to their patients about this kind of stuff. I’m just amazed by the kindness and amount of knowledge that they have.”

Orval’s tour included eight locations that spanned 36 miles:

• His childhood home

• Farmington Pond where he fished as a young man

• Dick’s Market, his go-to grocery store where he became close friends with the employees

• Lakeside Golf Course where he and his wife, Linda, played golf and he once made a hole-in-one

• His son’s home

• Kingsbury Farm where his granddaughter keeps her two horses

• His nephew’s home

• Big Hazy’s Ice Cream Shop, his son’s business
  
  

To help us grant more wishes, consider making a gift to the CNS Senior Wish Program at cns-cares.org/donate.