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The community leader passionately committed to providing loving hospice care
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news and community events
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crater Community Hospice celebrates 15 years serving Crater DistrictIn 1993, Mary French Elder came home following a trip to be with her mother in Fredericksburg, VA, who was under the care of Hospice nurses. As a long distance caregiver, the emotional and physical burden of providing care was stressful and difficult. "As well as providing excellent care for my mom, the moral support of the hospice staff helped keep me going," said French Elder, "I also learned that hospice was not available in the Tri-Cities, my own community." It was then that she talked with a friend, Franklin Boyce, then CEO of John Randolph Hospital, telling him that she felt their Hopewell community needed hospice."I kept saying, what do these families do when faced with illness? Where do they go for help?", said French Elder, "I couldn't imagine how people could do this on their own." It was a question Frank Boyce took to Dave Dunham, CEO of Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg. In October 1994 John Randolph and Southside Regional Medical Center, community hospitals at that time, announced a joint venture, initially underwriting the hospice for the Tri-Cities area. It was then that Crater Community Hospice (CCH) was developed as the nonprofit, freestanding hospice with an independent Board of Directors serving the cities of Hopewell, Petersburg, and Colonial Heights and the counties of Prince George, Surry, Charles City, Dinwiddie, Sussex, and lower Chesterfield. In 1996 CCH began serving Emporia and Greensville County. CCH was licensed for hospice care and began accepting patients in fall, 1995. In the 15 years of services to the community, CCH has provided care for over 3,500 patients and has educated thousands of professionals and families on end-of-life planning and hospice care. The staff has grown to t30 and hundreds of volunteers have been a part of the hospice team over the years. Volunteers are an essential part of the hospice philosophy of care, often becoming like family to the hospice patient offering friendship, love and support. For many volunteers, time stretches into years as a caregiver, a listening ear or a board member. Mary French Elder, a board member for CCH since 1994, recently rotated off the board after serving 15 years along with Philip Oakley, longtime treasurer for the Board. To reach this milestone is a testament to CCH's strong commitment to the community, our steady business practices and the dedication and hard work of our board, staff and volunteers," said Brenda D. Mitchell, long time CEO for CCH, "Facing tough economic times is no stranger to us. But like many families, we work hard and stay focuses on what is important. The support of our community is the payoff." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Message from the CEOBrenda D. Mitchell, RN, MSN, CS, CHPN Chief Executive Officer Happy New Year to all from everyone at CCH! 2010 starts another exciting year for our organization. CCH will reach yet another milestone - our 15th anniversary serving the tri-cities and surrounding counties. Our staff, board and volunteers are all very proud of this accomplishment and we hope everyone will celebrate with us throughout 2010. Listen for upcoming events!! It is hard to believe that we have been in our "new" location for almost a year. It has been a busy year and we invite the community to visit your hospice at any time. If you have driven by lately, you will see that we have our garden planted. It is growing well thanks to the rainy fall. This year we will be focusing on the walkway and getting those first bricks in place. The response from our hospice friends has been wonderful and it is these supporters that make all of this possible. The beginning of a New Years is the time we all look back on the past year and make those resolutions for the New Year. How many of you remember resolutions you made a year ago? If you can remember, did you keep that resolution and reach your goal? Goals must be realistic or one will become easily frustrated and not put forth the effort. With your support it is much easier to stay focused and challenged. At CCH we set goals every year and it take the entire team and all of our supporters to facilitate reaching our goals. Each year we want to serve more families and increase awareness of CCH in all the areas we serve. We want to increase funding in any way possible in order to serve everyone regardless of the ability to pay. This year is no different from the other 14 years, but I am asking you to make a simple and realistic resolution. This resolution will provide you the opportunity to help your community and CCH at the same time. Are you willing to tell one person about CCH? Are you willing to ask that person to do the same? This can very easily done, it takes very little time and you don't have to go very far to do this. CCH is your community hospice. CCH remains the only non-profit community-based hospice in the entire Richmond and tri-cities areas. There are still those who think everyone is affiliated with the same agency if the agency provides hospice services. Every hospice program operates independently. Our goal is for everyone in our service areas to recognize the name Crater Community Hospice With your help and the help of those you know I think we can make CCH the known place to call or visit for anyone who needs information or help related to care giving, end of life planning, bereavement issues, or perhaps a listening ear. CCH cannot do everything, but we will work with everyone to assist however we can. As we begin 2010 I want to thank everyone for your pas support; it is because of you that CCH has continue to be your community hospice CCH has developed many partners over the years and by each of us helping each other, all have benefited. We look forward to another year of strong partnership. Again, thank you for you do for CCH nd place begin to spread the work - CCH is the community hospice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Technology offers solutionsToday's technology dictates the demand and need for computer knowledge from people of all ages, and senior citizen are determined not to get left behind. Seniors are signing up for computer classes through local schools, colleges, community centers, and online (Internet) resources. Many of us learn through practical use that computer serve helpful but intended purposes for the caregiver. "When my children encouraged us to use a computer, I gave in but now find it so easy," said one senior who feels the computer has simplified communication with friends and family, "It's frustrating when you first begin, but the pleasure outweighs the frustration. Keyboarding is a lot like piano keys. It takes use and practice. When things get quiet it focuses my mind on something else without too much effort. Some people take a walk to clear their minds, but for me the computer is able to do that." For caregivers email can be a much needed time-saver. "It's a wonderful way to keep up with the family and out of town friends. We communicated with people through email when my husband became ill. People have let us know know they really appreciated that we kept them informed throughout his illness. It made things less stressful for me." CaringBridge.org is an internet service that allows patients, or their families, to communicate with loved ones through their own personal web site. The CaringBridge program is free and easy-to-use way for patients to keep far-off family and friends informed of their condition while they are hospitalized or ill. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Volunteer's storyMy patient had just moved to Virginia and had few family members or friends in the area. When she was very near death her family came to visit from out of state. There were two little boys and about six or seven years ol in the family of course there were no toys, bikes or other things to occupy children in the currently very somber house. So guess who got the job of taking out the boys to find some entertainment! We started by going to see a movie, but then unfortunately they spied an amusement arcade on the way out of the mall. With a little time to kill we went in, and it was my first and last arcade experience. (Not my idea of fun!) When I now pass an arcade I think of those two little boys, who will now be grown up. I realize that my job as a hospice volunteer is to meet the immediate need, whatever that is. I felt good about helping that family to have some quality time to say their goodbyes before the patient died. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . New Years DayEach thing in the clean morning light is a promise. I start the day by building a feeding place for the birds, stacking up castaway crates in the snow. How they come! Sparrows and blue jays dropping like leaves from the elms, which though burned with disease still promise some sort of spring, their branches lined with hard buds like birds perching, or the seeds of birds, still more birds to come. ~ Ted Kooser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crater Community Hospice Donations and Memorials:
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Crater Community Hospice, Inc.,
3916 South Crater Road,
Petersburg, Virginia 23805 Business Office Hours | Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
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Home • Hospice Care Services • About CCH • News & Events • Donations & Support • Volunteers • F.A.Q. • Referrals & Admissions • Resources • Contact Us Hospice care by Crater Community Hospice, Inc. - hospice professionals serving counties of Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Prince George, Sussex, Surry, and Charles City. Hospice care by Crater Community Hospice, Inc. - hospice care professionals serving cities of Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Hopewell, and Emporia. hospice care, crater community hospice, crater hospice, at home, virginia, va, petersburg, richmond, colonial heights, hopewell, emporia, chesterfield county, dinwiddie county, prince george county, sussex county, surry county, charles city county, southside va, southside virginia, hospice benefits, terminal illness, compassionate care, end of life care, end-of-life care, community service award, comfort, grieving, what is hospice, at home, comfortable, loving care, families facing serious illness, death, grief, community support, patient support, family support, emotional and spiritual support, outstanding community service, hospice nurse, hospice nursing, home health care, health care providers, home care-hospice, home care, hospice home care, elderly care, elder care, senior care, nursing home, volunteer, cash gift memorials gifts, non-profit organization, nonprofit donation, non-profit cash gift Website development provided by Award Web Services, LLC
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