Continued: Out of the hospice for a limo ride to remember

Nels Rice has had both legs amputated and likely has only a few weeks left to live, if that long. But he still feels lucky. He is going out in style -- out to look at Christmas lights, that is.

Snug in the back seat of a stretch limo, sipping sparkling cranberry juice from a wine goblet and munching on Christmas tree-shaped cookies, Rice was one of the first to partake in Holiday Lights & Limos, an unusual program that is treating hospice patients and their families to free tours of holiday light displays.

"I'm excited because I've never done this," he announced as he waited for the limousine at the Mission Nursing Home in Plymouth.

Rice and his late wife decorated their south Minneapolis home for the holidays, but their front porch tree and railing lights were nothing like the over-the-top displays he was about to see.

"I've only seen pictures. I've never seen them in 3-D."

Rice's sister, Joan Warsinksi, drove in from her farm near Menomonie, Wis., to join him oohing at a house with multicolored lights hanging from every eave and tree ("I'd hate to think what their electricity bill looks like," he said, "but it is gorgeous, isn't it?"), and aahing at the elaborate productions.

"Feast your eyes on this one, Joanie," he said, directing her attention to a wooden shed. One wall had been cut away to reveal a scene from Santa's workshop, complete with animatronic elves.

As they rode they reminisced about family Christmases in their Polish-Irish Milwaukee home. Rice listened with a warm smile as his sister described their tradition with Polish sausages -- "hand-stuffed," she stressed. They tied ribbons around them, hung them on neighbors' doorknobs, rang the doorbell and ran away.

Spreading a good idea

About 125 people are being treated to free holiday light tours this holiday season. The Holiday Lights & Limos Program is the brainchild of Diane Hallock of Bloomington, who pretty much refused to take "no" for an answer.

Back in August, with gas at $4 a gallon, she talked the limo companies into donating both drivers and cars. She talked the hospices into providing nurses to ride along in case of emergencies. Then, using her skills from her marketing job with Ameriprise Financial, she assembled a PowerPoint presentation and a glossy handout to spread the word. "That was the easy part," she said.

From there, it mushroomed. A church needlework group offered to make embroidered shawls and blankets for the participants, and Trader Joe's donated snacks for the rides. Each patient also gets a CD of the holiday music that is played in the limo and a commemorative photograph of them with their family.

"Once the word got out, there was an outpouring of other ideas," said Lisa Abicht-Swenson, CEO of Hospice of the Twin Cities and the first person to hear Hallock's pitch. "Diane tells a very poignant story about her own experience."

Last December, Hallock's 89-year-old mother, Anita, was in hospice care with a brain tumor.

"I wanted to get her a Hanukkah gift, but there's not much you can buy for a person in a hospice," she said. "That's when I got the idea for a limo tour of the holiday lights. I got my sister and several cousins together, and we surprised my mom with it one evening."

Anita Hallock died two months later.

"That's my last best memory of my mother," Hallock said.

A photograph taken that night hung on the wall of her mother's room until she died. Now it's on Hallock's desk. Over the summer, she often gazed at the picture of her mother basking in the warmth of her family, who, at least for one evening, managed to overlook the fact that she was dying.

"I remembered that night, and I said, 'Why can't we do this for more people?'" Hallock said. "So I drew up a proposal and sent it to Lisa [Abicht-Swenson]. I figured that she might think I was crazy, but instead she wrote back and said, 'Let's discuss it.'"

A challenge that pays off

To take the holiday lights tour, patients have to be evaluated to make sure they are strong enough to make the trip. Even then, organizers had to draw up a contingency plan in case someone has a medical emergency or dies. Because of the fragile health of hospice patients, a lot of the nuts-and-bolts organizing is being done at the last minute, said Deb Pascuzzi, volunteer coordinator for Hospice of the Twin Cities.

"Many times we won't know until the day of the trip who is going to be there," she said. Two patients who signed up for a tour died before they could go, she said, and new people enter hospice daily.

"We've created quite a challenge for ourselves. But at the same time, I can't tell you how excited we are for this opportunity to enhance the quality of life for these people."

Hallock had expected the main obstacle to be getting the limousine companies to donate their services during one of their busiest times of the year.

"I figured it would be easy for them to turn me down," she said. "Who would have thought that they could be so generous?"

So generous that Don Pukal, owner of All Day & Night Limousine Service, insisted on driving the trips personally. On the ride with Rice and his sister, he seemed almost as excited as they were, stopping to point out things in the elaborate displays that they might not have noticed.

Unaware he was talking to the owner, Rice told him after the ride, "This has been a real treat. You make sure your boss knows how much I appreciated it."

Pukal smiled and assured him the message would get through.

With everything coming together so smoothly, Hallock's major concern is the drivers. "They depend on tips," she said. "And we don't have any money to give them."

Anyone wanting to help can make a donation to www.hospiceofthetwincities.com.

As for Hallock's payoff, she plans to see off as many of the tours as she can. "It's fun to see the faces of the people and their family members," she said. "I think my mother would be very happy to see this, too."

Jeff Strickler • 612-673-7392