hospice care resources

Living with Serious Illness - A Community Information and Resource Guide

Resources for Patients and Families Living with Serious Illness:
www.seriousillness.org/richmond/

At Crater Community Hospice we take great pride in the word “Community” in our name. We strive to be a valuable resource to the area we were created to serve. As a resource, our key functions are to educate and serve.

As educators in End-of-Life care we reach community members in a number of ways:

• We have a Speakers Bureau with members who can give a presentation on a large number of End-of-Life issues such as The Role of Hospice, Advance Directives, Making Difficult Choices, When it is Time to Call in Hospice, or any related topic tailored to meet the needs of the group to whom we are speaking. These presentations are available to church groups, senior citizen’s organizations, college groups, and various clubs and organizations. Clarifying the role of Hospice to our community is one of our highest priorities. If you need someone from Crater Community Hospice to give a talk we are easy to access and very flexible in meeting the schedule of the group or organization we are addressing.
• We take part in conferences and seminars discussing the role of Hospice in relationship to the over-all medical system as well as addressing ethical issues related to terminal care.
• Our major function in community education is to open the discussion on the difficult issues that go hand and hand with End-of-Life Care, explain the availability of hospice, and present death as a normal part of the life cycle. Our overall goal is to make it known that the last stage of life can be lived with comfort and dignity.

We function in a number of ways as a resource for community service:

• Bereavement is one of our key areas of community service. Our Bereavement Coordinator holds support groups through the year, not only meeting the needs of families we have served, but as a service available to anyone who would benefit from being a part of a support group. Bereavement care is also made available to the staff members of Long Term Care Facilities who deliver such excellent care to the patients they share with us.
• We take part in Health Fairs doing nursing tasks such as taking blood pressures, making information on Hospice care available, and doing tasks tailored to meet the goals of the participants in the Health Fair.
• We partner with groups such as Serenity and the Alzheimer’s Association to open community access for those with special End-of-Life needs.
• We take part in Advance Directive Day activities, explaining and making Living Wills and other medical directives available.

These are only a few of the many services we provide to our community. We recognize that an important part of our mission is to identify needs related to End-of-Life Care and the pain that results from the loss of a loved one, then to meet those needs in a compassionate and effective way.