|
|
|
| Fri, Nov. 13 - - Mobile - RSS | |
|
|
Hospice agencies forge pact
Fredericksburg area's two hospice agencies sign cooperative agreement in hopes of improving care for people who are terminally ill.Date published: 12/19/2001 Improved care for the terminally ill could be one result of a new working arrangement between the region's two hospice agencies. Hospice Support Care and Mary Washington Hospice have agreed to refer patients to one another and to jointly sponsor community educational events. In addition, Mary Washington Hospice will provide medical services to residents of Harbor House, Hospice Support Care's Fredericksburg home for the terminally ill. The agreement approved recently signals a new chapter in the sometimes competitive, often confusing, relationship between the hospice agencies. Many patients and their families are not aware that there are two local hospice agencies, nor do they understand the differences between them, officials said. "There are some similarities but there are also vast differences," said Carrington L. Bailey, manager of Mary Washington Hospice. Officials hope that the new agreement will reduce this confusion. Hospice Support Care officials also hope that the agreement will result in more referrals from Mary Washington Hospice. "We'd like to serve a larger number of people," said Angela Eubank, public relations manager for Hospice Support Care. "There's more help available than people realize." Hospice Support Care, which has offices at 2119 Lafayette Boulevard, is the older of the two agencies, founded in 1981. Its corps of 150 volunteers provides patients and their families with emotional, spiritual and practical help. The volunteers often provide transportation or give the caretaker a needed break. "We go in and stay with the patient, and the caretaker gets to go out and do errands," said Lee's Hill resident Betty Walters, who with her husband, Neal, has been a Hospice Support Care volunteer. Mary Washington Hospice at 2300 Fall Hill Avenue was founded in 1994 by MediCorp Health System. As a medical hospice, many of its patients receive skilled nursing care and medication to control symptoms and relieve pain. Mary Washington Hospice's patients usually have six months or less to live and are no longer seeking a cure for their illnesses. In fact, about a third of the patients are treated for seven days or less, Bailey said. Hospice Support Care does not offer medical care. Nor does it require patients to have six months or less to live, or to abandon all treatment. Instead, its volunteers may serve a patient for weeks or months.
Date published: 12/19/2001
|
 |
|||
|
|||
