MPW.74 / 2022 Love and Life in Hospice by Matgaret Albaugh
Photographer
Matgaret Albaugh Spokane, Wash.

Team Cliff & Vi

Story Summary

Vic Bonuchi has always been part of a team, whether as a young baseball player or a coach for the high school football team. After 39 years coaching local teams, the lifelong sports fan has left his mark on Excelsior Springs where the high school football stadium is named after him: the Vic Bonuchi Field.

Vic has advanced Parkinson's disease and a new type of team: his caregivers. The team includes his home nurse Ann, his son Eddie, his daughter Viki, and the hospice nurses. From 5 p.m. to 9 a.m. every day, his wife Joann, who has Alzheimer's disease, is his sole caretaker. Viki says Vic has spent his life caring for others, "now it's our turn to care for him."