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Home > News
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| Tuesday, November 29, 2011
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Contact: Debra Thompson
Director, RMH Corporate Communications
540-564-5886
During National Hospice and Palliative Care Month in November, RMH Hospice celebrates its 30th year of serving the community.
Hospice is a service offered to patients and their families when illness is no longer considered curable and when life expectancy is measured in months instead of years, explained RMH Hospice director Janet Macarthur.
“At RMH Hospice, we believe that all patients, their loved ones and families, are unique and deserve care that is personal to their needs,” she said. “People facing a terminal illness have the right to peace, dignity and comfort. Their care should involve the entire family.”
The RMH Hospice program was the first in the Harrisonburg and Rockingham area when it opened in 1981, seven years after America’s first hospice center opened in Connecticut.
The RMH Hospice program was conceived when a group of community members from Harrisonburg First Presbyterian Church approached RMH leaders with the idea. RMH President Carter Melton created a task force to study the creation of a hospice program, prompting visits to St. Christopher’s in London, the birthplace of modern hospice care.
Unsolicited donations arrived at RMH as word spread about the hospice program and, in 1981, a six-bed unit opened. By its 10-year anniversary, RMH Hospice had served more than 1,200 patients. In 1998, the inpatient facility closed as care shifted to a home-based model, although hospital care is still a component of the program.
Today, RMH Hospice serves more than 70 patients daily in their homes, nursing facilities and, when necessary, in the hospital. RMH Hospice is accredited by Medicare and The Joint Commission and is supported by a staff of nurses, physicians, volunteers, therapists and aides.
“We’ve had the ability to change as the environment changed around us,” said Monica Lincoln, RN, who was director of the RMH Hospice for 22 of its 30 years. Today, Lincoln helps patients and their families with admission into the Hospice program.
In 2010, RMH hired its first palliative care physician, Ellissa Tiller, MD, who offers a holistic, supportive approach to caring for those suffering from a serious illness. Palliative care is provided at any point during an illness, giving patients a way to manage symptoms from a serious illness regardless of prognosis.
“This was a significant step for RMH ,” said Macarthur. “Palliative care helps people make difficult decisions about their treatment. It focuses on the many ways an illness can impact a patient and their family.”
Public perception of hospice care, too, has changed through the years, Lincoln noted. “Hospice care is not just for terminal cancer, as people used to think. We can help with any end-of-life diagnosis,” Lincoln said. “I think people are getting a better understanding of the wealth of services we provide.”
Almost 70 volunteer staff members perform 4,000 hours of service a year, doing in-home visits, bereavement calls, office work and many other duties.
“Hospice care is so much more than symptom management,” said Katherine Axtell, RMH Hospice volunteer coordinator. “It is truly whole-person care. Our trained volunteers play a vital role in helping meet the non-medical needs that come along with terminal illness. Our volunteers also support the family as well as the patient. Volunteers run errands, help with craft projects and record memories. They will do almost anything that helps preserve or enhance quality of life.”
For more information about RMH Hospice call (540) 433-4429.
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