Literature Review

Hospice choices: VITAS® Healthcare opens in Alabama, expands in Florida Panhandle Investors Observer, GlobeNewswire via QuoteMedia; 4/17/24 Hospice patients and their families in the Florida Panhandle and areas in Southern Alabama can now access quality end-of-life services with VITAS Healthcare. Starting today, the nation’s largest and leading provider of end-of-life care begins accepting referrals and admitting seriously ill patients throughout Tallahassee in Florida and Daphne-Mobile and Dothan in Alabama. ... In March 2024, VITAS entered into an agreement to acquire all hospice operations and an assisted living facility from Covenant Care. 

[Sample] Letter: Hospice workers deserve thanks during Volunteer Appreciation Month Commonwealth Ripon Press (Ripon, WI), Letter to the Editor by Meredith Schluter; 4/18/24April is Volunteer Appreciation Month and I want to attest to the incredible impact that caring volunteers make in the lives of others in our community. Compassus Hospice in Neenah is an organization that cares for individuals experiencing life-limiting illnesses. ... From directly interacting with patients and families to working with care team members behind the scenes to help operations run smoothly, [volunteers] provide a vital service. The nationwide impact of hospice volunteers is just as significant. According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Association, volunteers care for more than 1.5 million hospice patients each year, totaling millions of hours of care annually.Editor's Note: How are you expressing appreciation for your volunteers? This "Letter to the Editor" creates community awareness and provides a call for new volunteers. You have 11 more days to continue April's Volunteer Appreciation Month. What have you done? What more can you do?

New hospice care facility set to open its doors in Virginia Beach13NewsNow, Virginia Beach; 4/16/24, updated 4/17/24 ... The growing need for hospice care was addressed in Old Dominion University's "The State of the Region" report, which noted that Hampton Roads needs 45 beds to care for thousands of residents with life-limiting illnesses every year. ... Dozoretz [Hospice House of Hampton Roads] will provide 12 beds, as well as a bereavement center and grief support groups for families. ... The City of Virginia Beach donated 2.5 acres of land on Upton Drive for the $10,930,000 project. ... Construction on the facility began in March 2023. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for next week. ... The senior living community Westminster-Canterbury on Chesapeake Bay is partnering with Beth Sholom Village to operate and manage the hospice house.

After death of nurses, CT lawmakers look for solutions: 'We just cannot ignore that risk' CT Insider, by Ken Dixon, 3/19/24 Home health agencies would have to find out more background information about their patients, and would be reimbursed for providing visiting nurses with escorts to certain homes and neighborhoods under legislation pushed Monday by Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney. ... It was inspired in part by the murder last year of Joyce Grayson of Brooklyn, Connecticut who was killed in a halfway house for sex offenders in Willimantic, as well as the January death of Ototegile Morulane, a live-in caregiver and citizen of the Republican of Botswana who died in an East Lyme house fire. Editor's Note: Though this article was appeared in the CT Insider 3/19/24, we are posting it today for context of our next article, "CT Hospice says it can't provide home care under bill to protect healthcare workers," published 4/16/24.

Canyon Lake Hospice Care extends compassionate services to El Cajon community Iowanews Headlines; 4/12/24 Canyon Lake Hospice Care, known for its unwavering commitment to providing compassionate end-of-life support, is extending its services to the El Cajon community. This expansion heralds a significant milestone, not just for Canyon Lake Hospice Care, but also for the residents of El Cajon who seek specialized hospice care.

Village Hospice hosts Vietnam Veteran’s Breakfast CBS KCTV 5, Kansas City, MO; 4/10/24 Village Hospice provides many services to support their residents, including ways to honor their residents that are veterans. Jillian hears about a recent Vietnam Veterans’ Breakfast and how it celebrated Veterans living at John Knox Village. 

New DOJ rules for online healthcare content make sure seniors aren’t taken offline McKnights Senior Living, by Aaron Dorman; 4/11/24The Department of Justice took steps earlier this week to help make sure old adults have appropriate access to valuable web content they need for understanding important healthcare and coverage decisions. State and government agencies, such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, must abide by new technical standards, according to a new DOJ rule signed Monday [4/1/24]. “Just as stairs can exclude people who use wheelchairs from accessing government buildings,” the official rule states, “inaccessible web content and mobile apps can exclude people with a range of disabilities from accessing government services.” The technical requirements of the rule are extensive — the updated document is almost 300 pages long — but the overall purpose is to instruct agencies on their obligations to account for possible disabilities.

Expanding perinatal palliative care, hospice Hospice News, by Holly Vossel, 4/10/24A lack of trained staff and evolving health laws are among the leading barriers to expanding perinatal palliative and hospice care among underserved populations. ... Mistrust and fear of discrimination are among the common barriers, along with social determinants of health such as insurance coverage, socioeconomic status and transportation, according to recent analysis from researchers at the Morehouse School of Medicine’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Angela Hospice opening a hospice residence at Lourdes Senior Community in Waterford Detroit Regional Chamber, by Angela Hospice; 4/10/24 Angela Hospice will expand its caring services to the Waterford community and beyond, when it begins operating a 15-bed hospice residence at Lourdes Senior Community this summer and providing additional home hospice services in the area. The non-profit will extend its geographic reach further into north Oakland County, offering additional outreach to benefit all in the community, not just those on hospice care, through transformational grief support groups, educational outreach, and their Good Samaritan program, which serves those who are without insurance or the ability to pay for hospice.

HopeHealth’s expanding scope of pediatric hospice, palliative services Hospice News, by Holly Vossel; 4/8/24 HopeHealth has been growing its pediatric hospice and supportive care service lines in recent years to address a range of unmet needs among seriously ill children and their families. The nonprofit health system serves Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. ... Hospice News recently sat down with pediatrician Dr. Rebecca MacDonell-Yilmaz, medical director of HopeHealth’s pediatric supportive services. 

Hospice of Redmond expands Camp Sunrise, yearly grief camp, to include teens 13-17KTVZ.com News Channel 21, Redmond, OR; 4/9/24 An estimated 6 million children, or 1 in 12 kids in the United States, will experience the death of a parent or sibling by age 18. ... Substance abuse and behavioral issues are closely intertwined with grief. Untreated grief may impact high-risk behavior, trouble in school, and substance abuse. Hospice of Redmond’s annual children’s grief camp, Camp Sunrise, which occurs every June, has expanded its offerings to include helping teens ages 13 to 17 this year.

Healthcare on the brink: navigating the challenges of an aging society in the United States  npj Aging, by Charles H. Jones and Mikael Dolsten; 4/6/24 The US healthcare system is at a crossroads. With an aging population requiring more care and a strained system facing workforce shortages, capacity issues, and fragmentation, innovative solutions and policy reforms are needed. ... Through a comprehensive analysis of the impact of an aging society, this work highlights the urgency of addressing this issue and the importance of restructuring the healthcare system to be more efficient, equitable, and responsive. 

Reminder: April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day The Conversation Project, Institute for Healthcare Improvement; ongoing until 4/16/24[Read for] specific ideas and suggestions for ways to implement National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) activities in your community and at your facility. First and foremost, lead by example…be sure you have thoughtfully considered and made your own healthcare decisions known. Editor's Note: from The Conversation Project's "About Us": "The Conversation Project began 2010, when Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Ellen Goodman and a group of colleagues and concerned media, clergy, and medical professionals gathered to share stories of 'good deaths' and 'hard deaths' within their own circle of loved ones."