Compassion 2017 REPORT to OUR COMMUNITY
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A STORY OF compassion 2017 REPORT TO OUR COMMUNITY Mission: An Open Letter To Our Community: To improve the quality of life for patients and families, and to be the Compassionate Guide® for end-of-life care in our community. When a family chooses Community Hospice & Palliative Care, they place an incredible amount of trust in our organization; trust that their loved one will be cared for with dignity, trust that we will care for them like family and trust that the compassionate guidance we provide will allow them to make the most of their time together. We are truly grateful for the way it has been Vision: embraced and incorporated into the fabric of the communities it serves. From its 1,000 volunteers to its community advocates, philanthropic partners and friends, the relationships To be the provider of choice and leader in our community for Community Hospice & Palliative Care has built over the years are integral to the organization’s innovative solutions in end-of-life care. success and longevity in North Florida. 2017 was a year of renewal and growth for our organization. In early 2017, Community Hospice & Palliative Care was granted a Certificate of Need by the State of Florida, authorizing us to begin Values: serving patients in 11 new counties. In addition to Clay, Baker, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties, we are now licensed to provide care in Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Integrity, Leadership, Ownership, Respect and Value for the Individual, Lafayette, Levy, Putnam, Suwanee and Union counties. Though expansion into these counties will Superior Service and Teamwork. be a focus of our organization for the foreseeable future, we remain committed to providing the highest quality of care to patients in the Jacksonville metropolitan area, developing our eighth center for caring at St. Vincent’s Southside, which opened in February 2017. ® Your Compassionate Guide since 1979. To reflect our expansion into North Central Florida, we unveiled a new name and a new look for the organization’s brand in April 2017. The addition of Palliative Care to our name better represents Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Gilchrist, Now serving: who we are by unifying two of our most important services. Also in 2017, our organization Hamilton, Lafayette, Levy, Nassau, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee and Union counties. celebrated the launch of its newly developed Alivia Care subsidiary. Alivia Care provides in-home palliative care and support, but not hospice care, to patients with advanced illness and their families and caregivers. We created the Alivia Care name as a way to overcome obstacles to quality palliative care based on fear of the “H-word.” Our 2017 Community Report shows the impact on the community of the specialized care, programming and education we provide. During our 39 years of service to this community, we have learned that to fulfill our mission, we must not only be an excellent provider of direct care to patients and families during the last stages of advanced illness but deliver services and education that change attitudes, increase awareness and improve the overall quality of life in the communities we serve. Thank you for being such an important part of our efforts to bring better care to more Floridians. Warm regards, Susan Ponder-Stansel Fernando Acosta-Rua Ray Driver Susan Ponder-Stansel Fernando Acosta-Rua Ray Driver President and CEO Chair, Chair, Community Hospice & Palliative Care Community Hospice & Palliative Care Board of Directors Foundation Board of Directors 2017 REPORT TO OUR COMMUNITY 1 Camp Healing Powers Celebrates “Never once have we felt like a hospice 20 Years of Helping Kids Cope employee or volunteer was just ‘doing their job’ or ‘checking a done box’; they have genuinely cared about our children and have patiently listened to our questions, and provided resources when needed.” Camp Healing Powers® (CHP) is Ashley attended CHP in 2009 and said that it was one of – Tracy M., Camp Healing Powers parent one of a variety of bereavement and the best things she could have done for herself. Then, community grief programs offered by when Ashley turned 18, she became a CHP volunteer. Community Hospice & Palliative Care. Ever since then, she’s been helping other grieving CHP is a therapeutic camp weekend children and teens heal and thrive. Ashley still talks open to any child ages 7 to 17 who is grieving about her camp weekend and even keeps in touch the death of a loved one. Designed by bereavement with some of the girls who were her cabin mates counselors, the camp creates a safe and secure nine years ago. environment where young people can remember those who have died, acknowledge sadness and pain and Your continued support of innovative begin taking steps toward reconciliation and renewal. programs such as Camp Healing Powers The camp also includes fun and laughter, not to allows Community Hospice & Palliative Care to mention plenty of traditional camp activities, to aid in bring healing and comfort to anyone who needs the healing process. it in the communities we serve, regardless of ability to pay. Learn more about our full range In 2017, Camp Healing Powers celebrated its 20th of bereavement and community grief services at anniversary, aided by a generous donation from the communityhospice.com/services/grief-loss-support/. Powers family to create a safe place for grieving kids. Over the past 21 years, CHP has touched the lives of more than a thousand children. One story in particular highlights the long-term impact camp can have on attendees. Ashley came to Community Hospice & Palliative Care for support when she was just 13 years old after the sudden death of her father. She was very close to her dad, and this traumatic experience greatly impacted her. She was struggling in school and with friends, and she felt like few people could understand the struggles of losing a loved one. Ashley’s counselor encouraged her to attend CHP to 20th Anniversary Celebration meet others who have gone through something similar. 2 2017 REPORT TO OUR COMMUNITY Give today at Support.CommunityHospice.com 2017 REPORT TO OUR COMMUNITY 3 “I was initially nervous about such a When Our Patients For Us discussion. It simply hit too close to home, Care as my own mother was in the midst of a battle with stage-four cancer.” – Helena Wells, ARNP, Community Palliative Consultants A Palliative Care Reflection It’s a good day when our Community Palliative But the relief didn’t stop with Helena’s patient. Despite Consultants (CPC) team members provide quality their own recent health and life struggles, she and care and guidance for patients with serious illness her husband were the epitome of optimism and and their loved ones, to help them live better. It’s an unwavering Christian faith. They never let the pain win, extraordinary day when our patients do the same and Helena noticed. They prayed together, for Helena thing and share their compassion with us. This is one and her mother, and Helena’s patient provided a lifeline such story. to see Helena through her own challenging times. One of our palliative care registered nurse When Helena’s lifeline succumbed to her illness in April practitioners, Helena Wells, tells the story of a call for 2018, Helena made one more visit to her patient and pain management and “goals of care” she received for friend at her funeral. a CPC referral at Baptist Medical Center South in 2017. “Goals of care” conversations are a vital part of advance When our palliative specialists care, they listen to their care planning; our provider helps patients and their patients and take time to get to know them—their families discern what they want for future treatment concerns, their fears and their hopes. In the process, options while considering the diagnosis and prognosis. reversals are made sweeter for the unexpected way they blossom and miracles do happen… at the bedside Despite her personal concerns, Helena placed a and beyond. laser focus on the best interests of her new patient, a 65-year-old woman with metastatic bladder cancer who had been in agony for months. Having lost her husband five years before, the patient had remarried a man who had also lost his wife to cancer. Helena quickly assessed her new patient and adjusted her medication regimen. Then the pain adjusted, too. Way down. In fact, Helena’s patient hadn’t felt this good in months—so good, she texted her husband an emoji of a girl dancing to share her newfound joy and relief. Learn more about Community Palliative Consultants at CommunityPalliative.com. 4 2017 REPORT TO OUR COMMUNITY Give today at Support.CommunityHospice.com 2017 REPORT TO OUR COMMUNITY 5 Taking Pediatric Compassion To New Heights Since 2000, Community Thanks to the generosity of THE PLAYERS PedsCare has brought Championship, PGA TOUR Wives Association, and comfort and care to enhance EverBank/TIAA, Community PedsCare kids and the quality of life for patients from prenatal to age 21 families enjoy a day at one of golf’s most renowned living with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. This tournaments before it officially kicks off. “These Kids all-inclusive program supports the specialized needs Can Play” is a fun, interactive day for the entire family and medical care of the child, their parents and siblings, and includes contests, giveaways and a chance to other family members, caregivers, classmates and meet PGA TOUR player Jim Furyk and his wife, Tabitha. teachers. Thanks to charitable gifts, fundraising events, EverBank/TIAA, the presenting sponsor, donated and corporate partners, Community PedsCare receives $30,000, which was matched by THE PLAYERS for a vital funding and support to ensure that children in our total of $60,000 to benefit Community PedsCare.