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ARCHIVE » Spring 2009 - The Beacon (print PDF)
Hospice Care Newsletter of Crater Community Hospice
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Crater Community Hospice moves to Petersburg
 When you receive this first newsletter of 2009, we will be working from our new location at 3916 South Crater Road and well into the new year! I am optimistic and say all will be organized and in place, but if not, we will definitely be providing the same high quality services
in the community.
The new location will provide you easier access to our office and greater visibility. With the closer proximity to Southside Regional Medical Center, Health South, Appomattox Health and Wellness Center and other medical offices, we are positioned to provide services to more referral sources as well as to the families we serve. Additional space allows CCH to have room for growth in patient care as well as grief support groups and programs to educate and inform the community. This is a very exciting time for CCH and one which has been a dream for many years. Part of what makes this such a great place is the effort of local residents to support and improve their communities.
 We find there is strong commitment to donating time and a willingness to find new ways to make the Tri Cities and area counties even better.
With the overwhelming support we have received from you, our friends, our dream to be serving those in need of hospice care is becoming a reality. As we begin to feel the effect of the slowing economy, we are prepared to provide for more families, many of whom are uninsured. We continue to need your ongoing support as we begin a new year in our new home. We hope to see you at our open house, one which is planned for the business community on Thursday, March 12 and one on Saturday, March 14 for the many families and volunteers we have known throughout our fourteen year history. We welcome you to visit us at anytime!
- A Letter from Brenda Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer
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CCH welcomes new staff into new location
 Mary Burns Ball, RN, BSN, MBA, DHA(c) is CCH’s new director of clinical services. Mary’s position as the clinical team leader is to ensure high quality home care to support seriously ill patients and their loved ones.
Mary Butterworth, RN, has joined CCH as director of compliance and quality care. Mary develops systems to ensure the maintenance and quality of care for patients and their families in compliance with federal and state regulations.
Carolyn Turek, has moved to a new role as RN admissions nurse. In her position, Carolyn assesses and admits patients to hospice and works with the community liaison team.
Krista Ratliff joined CCH as director of development where she works with donor relations, fundraising events and campaigns and public relations.
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Commemorative bricks adorn Crater Community Hospice Garden
A memorial garden at Crater Community Hospice will begin being built in early Spring 2009. It will serve as a community resource for families and friends to memorialize their loved ones as well to beautify the community with a lovely area of colorful shrubs, perennials, pathways and benches bordered by bricks inscribed with messages and names of loved ones.
“Despite limitations for a spacious garden, we want our garden to be a very pleasant, important statement of commitment to this community, said Brenda Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer for Crater Community Hospice, “we feel very strongly that we want to be visible in the community. Many of the area civic organizations and churches have supported us over the years and may wish to be a part of the garden. We envision a lovely space where families have a special area for remembrance celebrations.”
Friends and family members can be honored with a commemorative brick placed in the memorial garden with a contribution of $125. Bricks can be imprinted with names, dates or special messages. All proceeds from the fundraiser support patients and families benefiting from hospice care, education or bereavement services. For information call Krista at (804) 526 -4300, ext. 234.
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Crater Community Hospice reaches out to serve Planning District 19
Created in 1995 through joint efforts of administrators of Southside Regional Medical Center, John Randolph Medical Center and local community members, Crater Community Hospice (CCH), founders laid the groundwork to develop community-based resources throughout Planning District 19 (PD 19). PD 19 encompasses the cities of Colonial Heights, Petersburg, Hopewell, and Emporia and the counties of Prince George, Dinwiddie, lower Chesterfield, Sussex, Surry, Charles City and Greensville.
Ambitious as it was to serve a very large, primarily rural area, since that time CCH, a 501 (C)3 non profit hospice, has provided care to over 3,000 patients and their families, and educated thousands more about hospice care and the need for end-of-life planning.
The underserved throughout PD 19 continues to be a challenge as well documented in the 2008 Service Area Needs Assessment, conducted by Central Virginia Health Planning Agency. In almost all health indicators, PD 19’s percentages are worse than Virginia’s percentages. Based on data from the most recent survey, at least one in ten people in PD 19 are uninsured. Almost half of the residents leave the area for medical specialists. Lack of access to health care and lack of health education are sited as major contributors to barriers of health services. Utilization of hospice services in PD 19 mirrors these health trends. CCH estimates utilization of hospice services to be 15 percent lower than the national average. The socioeconomic and demographics of the area play a large part in this occurrence. Almost one in three people in PD 19 live at or below the federal poverty level.
CCH is proactive in planning for increased needs. As we begin to feel the effect of the slowing economy, we are prepared to provide for more families, many of whom are uninsured. Outreach has been identified as a strategic goal for CCH to reach the underserved within our geographic target. With the generous support of community partners such as The Dunlop House and the many contributions from the families and businesses throughout the community, CCH continues to meet the
needs of our community.
A 2009 award from John Randolph Foundation will provide CCH with funding to centralize operations from our new site better serving our southern communities. As CCH is preparing to increase outreach efforts we will be providing more education and supportive programs in communities as well as in a Community Room located at our new location on South Crater Road.
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The Hospice Concept
The hospice concept of caring derived from medieval times symbolized a place where travelers could find rest and comfort. Today hospice offers a comprehensive program of care for patients and families facing serious and terminal illness. Hospice care involves a team-oriented approach to nursing care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support for the end of life patient and their family and friends. Care is individualized to the needs and wishes of each patient. At the center of hospice is the belief that each patient has the right to die pain-free with the support and care available through family, medical professionals and a network of volunteers and caregivers. The focus is on care, not cure; provided in the familiar comfort of the patient’s home, when possible.
 Hospice is also provided in facilities, hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities, where the expertise of the hospice professional can collaborate, supplement, teach and care for the patient’s unmet needs. When available, family and friends serve as the primary caregiver. The family and the patient care givers are primary recipients of care and support. Members of the hospice staff make visits to assess the patient, provide direct interventions and coordinate identified service needs. Staff is on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The team consists of the patient, family, available care givers, physicians, nurses, home health aides, bereavement coordinators and trained volunteers. A care plan, developed with the input of team members, addresses each patient’s individual need for pain management and symptom control. Supportive interventions include education; counseling addresses anticipatory grief, anxiety, fear, loss of control, and dependency. For families, hospice care eases the burden of care giving, through medical and nursing interventions, emotional and spiritual support, respite care, and assistance with managing the household.
Hospice care is provided to patients who have a limited life expectancy, usually six months or less. Although many hospice patients are cancer patients, Crater Community Hospice serves anyone, regardless of age or type of illness. Crater Community Hospice provides care for all eligible families, regardless of their ability to pay. Services are covered by a variety of sources with Medicare being the single greatest source of coverage. The Commonwealth of Virginia also has a Medicaid Benefit and Crater Community Hospice is an approved agency. Private insurance plans may also offer hospice benefits. In most cases, reimbursement from third party payers does not fully cover the costs incurred.
Crater Community Hospice depends on supporters to help defray these costs as well as the costs for those with no health insurance. All donations are tax deductible and go to directly to the care and services of the families served. Charitable donations enable CCH to continue to reach out to those in need. Our mission is to be “the community leader passionately committed to providing loving care of the highest quality to families facing serious illness, death and grief.”
The Beacon is published by Crater Community Hospice, a non profit organization, providing comprehensive end of life services and education to the Tri-Cities area and surrounding communities including Chesterfield, Prince George, Dinwiddie, Sussex, Surry, Greenville, Charles City Counties and the cities of Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Hopewell and Emporia. If you do not wish to receive fundraising communications from Crater please call the development office at 804-526-4300.
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