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The recipients of this week's Ben's Bell are the employees of Casa de la Luz Hospice, whose compassionate care so touched a dying man that he asked his family to honor them as one of his last requests.

The staff members were nominated by Del Arvayo, who said his father "really appreciated their care and told me so."

"The last day, he said, 'Make sure you take care of these people at hospice, make sure you tell people what kind of work they do there.' "

Daniel Arvayo had grown ill in the past year and he and his wife had moved in with their youngest child's family, Del Arvayo said. He suffered a heart attack in the last week of March and moved to Casa de la Luz at the end of April.

The care he received was remarkable, Del Arvayo said.

"They were so kind and the way they treat people there, it's a very difficult time but they maintain the dignity of a person," he said.

He watched the compassionate care in action and his father told him about it, too. For instance, staffers would check on the elder Arvayo during the middle of the night.

"He'd talk about a dream he had and they'd sit there and listen to him," Del Arvayo said.

Another time, his father was trying to watch an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game, but was slipping in and out of awareness. A staffer sat next to him and relayed a play-by-play so he'd know how his team did.

"I don't know if that is part of the job, but it's just good," Del Arvayo said.

And it wasn't just the way the staff cared for patients, but for the whole family, he said.

"It's one of the most difficult times you face in your life and in comes this ray of sunshine," he said. "It's fantastic."

Four days after he arrived at the hospice, Daniel Arvayo died at age 69.

"I've talked to friends and family and some see a loved one's passing as a very difficult or dark time," Del Arvayo said. "But it can be part of life, a bright time, a step to the afterlife. What the hospice staff did was make it that bright, positive time."

His father gave him several things to do as his last wishes. Some involved ensuring his grandchildren did certain things. And the one involved thanking the hospice. Del Arvayo knew right away that the best way to do that was with a Ben's Bell. The folks with the bells agreed, and arranged for a ceremony on Thursday at the hospice, 400 W. Magee Road.

Although Del Arvayo couldn't be there himself because of a business trip, his mother, Elodia; wife, Sonia; and children, Annika, Julianna and Roman, attended. They brought a photograph of Daniel Arvayo. And they held up the phone for Del Arvayo to hear what happened.

"It sounded fantastic," he said.

It was especially sweet for the family because it came just after they'd fulfilled another wish of Daniel Arvayo's, that they take a trip to the Grand Canyon.

The recognition was a huge accolade for the staff, said Dasa Schmidt, the marketing director for Casa de la Luz.

"It was such an honor and we are so grateful for the recognition and the support," she said.

About 15 people were there for the ceremony, she said, everyone from the social worker to the spiritual counselor who had helped the family with Daniel Arvayo's transition.

"They brought his picture, so it almost felt like he was present," Schmidt said.

The hospice is in its 10th year and is locally owned and operated, she said. Most of its patients remain in their homes, but the hospice also has an inpatient unit and a residential home.

In all of its services, she said, the hospice follows a model of care that treats the whole patient, and family members, too. For example, the facility has a bereavement-services program that cares for families for a year after their loved one's passing.

"We just try to make sure they can process their grief properly and with lots of love and support," Schmidt said.

She also praised the Arvayos.

"We just feel so honored to be recognized by Ben's Bells and Del and it was a privilege to take care of Mr. Arvayo and his family. They're very special, as is every single person we have the opportunity to be with."