Warmth and compassion lead retiree to serve terminally ill

Retirement is a way of life that John Bruhn refuses to live by. The former provost and chief operating officer of Penn State University’s Harrisburg, Pa., campus arrived to Scottsdale six years ago, and hasn’t slowed down yet.

The 71-year-old Bruhn’s time as a volunteer at Hospice of the Valley, and enrollment in a chaplaincy program at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, led to his 2005 Frances Young Community Heroes Award.

Bruhn and five others will receive the honor Tuesday.

Beverly Johnson, who has known Bruhn for 18 years as a fellow sociologist, nominated him for the award.

An adjunct faculty member at Arizona State University, Johnson said Bruhn is a strong, hard-working individual who balances those traits with warmth and compassion.

"Instead of laying around in retirement, he has dedicated himself to the community," Johnson said. "He didn’t have to do anything after he retired, but he wants to keep working hard for the family of life."

The lives of others are important to Bruhn, who also teaches sociology part time at Northern Arizona University.

He said his hospice work gives him a chance to spend time with terminally ill patients, mostly men, and give their caregivers an opportunity to get away for a while.

"I’m a friend to these men, at their homes," Bruhn said. "Depending on their condition, we may sit and talk or have a cup of coffee. We’ll talk sports, politics, families and about our early lives. I stay with a person I am assigned to until they die."

Bruhn found the time to write six poetry books over the past 25 years, but said it’s material he doesn’t deem appropriate to read to terminally ill patients.

"I have met some of the finest people who end up in hospice care that I never would have met otherwise," Bruhn said. "People say ‘Why do you spend time with dying patients?’ It keeps my priorities in order. You never know when you’re going to find out you’re the one with a short time to live."

Bruhn volunteers for hospice four hours a day, twice a week. He said he has worked with about 30 patients and their families and estimates he has logged 1,000 hours of service.

Becoming a chaplain is Bruhn’s latest goal. He said he thinks combining chaplaincy with hospice work would allow him to affect more lives.

"The people I have worked with have given me more than I have given them," Bruhn said. "I’ve learned so much from talking with them."