Coming to Terms with Loss Bob “Scrummy” Adams lived with joy, had no regret and believed you could work through any dispute if you just sat down and talked it through together. He worked at U. S. Steel, served as a volunteer firefighter and threw legendary Christmas Eve parties. When his wife died at age 36, he raised four children on his own, including daughter Ann, who still resides in the family home they shared for years. Bob lived out his final days at Family Hospice and Palliative Care’s Mt. Lebanon inpatient center in 2012. Ann remembers it vividly, in particular how the staff cared for her and for her family with the same skill and compassion they demonstrated towards her father. Staff recognized that her dad’s death would be difficult for Ann and encouraged her to take advantage of the 13 months of bereavement support afforded to caregivers through the Medicare hospice benefit, which can include individual counseling. “I’m not someone who’s used to talking about very personal things, so I couldn’t imagine what we could possibly talk about for a whole hour,” Ann recalls, “but that all went away when Mara came to the house, put her things down and got on the floor with Kal. “Mara” is Family Hospice Bereavement Counselor Mara Baginski and “Kal” is Ann’s beloved greyhound. To Ann’s surprise, the hour flew by, and the two scheduled an appointment for the next month. Ann and Mara met regularly over the next year. “Back when my mom died, no one talked about it. We all just moved on. Mara helped me recognize that when my dad died, I lost my mom, my dad and my friend all at once. I couldn’t ‘move on’ again without help.” Help meant taking time for tears. It meant encouraging Ann to reconnect with her church community. It meant grieving anew when Kal died. It also meant letting go of the guilt Ann was carrying, the feeling that she should have “made people listen” when she suspected her father’s cancer had returned. This was an arduous process for Ann. “One day, Mara asked me to visualize my dad sitting in the recliner again and then imagine what he would say. I told her he’d probably ask what I’d done to the living room because I’d painted and rearranged the furniture, and he wasn’t one for change. But he
Family Hospice & Palliative Care 50 Moffett Street Pittsburgh, PA 15243
Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Pittsburgh, PA Permit No. 02743
2014 WINTER NEWSLETTER
certainly wouldn’t say that I hadn’t done enough. That was a real breakthrough for me.” The other thing Mara helped Ann do was give herself permission to have fun again, when she was ready. “Mara explained that this was how Dad would live on in us,” Ann smiled. “He would want me to enjoy life.” And with that, true to her father’s legacy, Ann returned to Thanksgiving preparations, ready to host family the next day. Bob would be pleased. To learn more about our bereavement outreach, call 412-572-8829 or visit FamilyHospicePA.org.
Reaching Diverse Communities S
hould you find yourself in need of inspiration, you can do no better than gospel music shaking the rafters of the historic Wesley Center AME Zion Church in the Hill District, as was the case on a recent Sunday night. As evening fell, song and spirits soared at the “Festival of Voices,” a concert of local choirs and gospel talent featuring special guest vocalist and award-winning gospel artist Bishop Yvette Flunder. Sponsored by Family Hospice and Palliative Care, the gathering was one of several recent outreach efforts in the African-American community, a population less likely to elect hospice at end of life.
The Mission of Family Hospice and Palliative Care is to provide compassionate, quality comfort care that enhances the lives of people with life-limiting illness and their families.
Gifting Stock as a Charitable Contribution
As the end of the calendar year approaches, many people are thinking about their year-end gifts to charity and asking for smart tax planning ideas. Donating appreciated stock (or mutual fund shares) from your investment portfolio instead of cash can yield tax benefits to you in addition to a meaningful contribution to the charity. Gifts of securities that you have held for at least 12 months and one day may be made directly to Family Hospice and Palliative Care and are eligible for tax deductions equal to their full market value on the date the gift is received by the charity. For donors who utilize this gifting strategy, capital gain tax that you would have paid will be avoided. This is a nice way to manage your portfolio particularly if you have one large stock position that has a very low cost that you are reluctant to sell. If you would like further information on gifts of stock to charity, talk with your broker or your financial advisor. For instructions on making gifts of stock to Family Hospice and Palliative Care contact Lynn Helbling Sirinek, Vice President, Philanthropy at 412-572-8874.
Mission Statement
Board of Directors
Bishop Flunder, pastor of the City of Refuge United Church of Christ in Oakland, California, wasted no time in meeting any apprehensions around end-of-life discussion head-on. “You can’t really live until you quit worrying about how you are going to die. You can decide whether you are going to go coach or first class. My determination is to finish well,” she exhorted those gathered. “We value the opportunity to gather in an affirming way to offer useful information about end-of-life care in conjunction with the concert,” said Family Hospice Spiritual Care Specialist and Transitions Project Leader Reverend Mary Lovett. The Transitions program is designed to increase awareness of and access to services that support families facing life-limiting illness within the African-American community of Pittsburgh’s Greater North Side.
Continued inside right
Robert E. Butter, Chair Deborah Brodine, Vice Chair Bruce Austin, Secretary Paul Winkler, Immediate Past Chair Kathi R. Boyle Kimberly Ward Burns
David Friedland, MD Joseph E. Kennedy Barry C. Lembersky, MD Lisa Turbeville Markowski Sandra Tomlinson G. Alan Yeasted, MD Barbara Ivanko, President and CEO
Institutional Advancement Committee Lisa Turbeville Markowski, Chair Robert E. Butter Ruth G. Foltz Nancy F. Gannon
Caroline Hellwig Jane D. Johnson Joseph E. Kennedy Christine McMahon Tumpson
FamilyHospicePA.org
Dear Friends, Naturally, the prospect of a new year leads me to thoughts of the future. And I’m not alone in that. For some, the future is overwhelming, a source of apprehension. For those meeting 2015 in the absence of a loved one, Family Hospice and Palliative Care offers resources and programs to support bereaved persons in their healing. Our hope is that these services can replace grief with possibility, as it did for Ann Adams, who graciously shared her experience.
Treasure Sale Success
For others, like volunteer Jack Wall, the future is a goal, whether it is miles logged on a bike ride, time spent in service to others or even a milestone birthday. For Family Hospice as an organization, the future is now. Beginning in 2017, Medicare will make public data gathered from hospices nationally related to quality outcomes that can be shared and compared in the interest of accountability to the consumer and to funding sources. This interest mirrors one of a number of recommendations put forth recently by the Institute of Medicine in its report “Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near End of Life.” Family Hospice is ahead of the curve, already making quality outcomes available on our web site, via our social media outlets and in our printed materials. Only hospice programs that demonstrate excellence in the delivery of care will survive the coalescing forces of shrinking financial resources, increasing regulatory oversight and growing demand for services outside the hospital environment in the era of health care reform. Thanks to the efforts of our exceptional staff and volunteers in the service of 3,600 individuals and caregivers across nine Western Pennsylvania counties, Family Hospice will be among them. How fortunate we are as an organization to meet the new year with optimism. I hope it is the same for you and for those you love, and I wish you all the best in 2015. Gratefully,
Family Hospice extends our most grateful thanks to Friends of Family Hospice. The group worked diligently for many months to collect, price and sell gently used furniture and other collectibles that comprised the items sold at the Friends’ Treasure Sale in September. As a result of their efforts, they were able to contribute more than $10,000 towards the purchase of equipment to facilitate patient care. Their gifts ranged from infant scales used by our clinical staff in the field, to clocks for our Lawrenceville inpatient center rooms, to bed alarms with mats for our inpatient center beds.
Evaluating the Quality of Care at Family Hospice The Institute of Medicine (IOM) provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policy makers, health professionals, the private sector and the public. Earlier this year, the IOM released a report entitled “Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life.” In it, the IOM concludes that person-centered, familyoriented care that honors individual preferences and promotes quality through the end of life should be a national priority.
With the expressed interests of both patient satisfaction and sustainability of the health care system in mind, the report’s key findings and recommendations demonstrate that broad improvement in end-of-life care is within reach, and Family Hospice is on the forefront of those improvements. For example, the IOM suggests that comprehensive end-of-life care should be consistent with an “individuals’ values, goals and informed preferences.” Ninety-five percent of caregivers report that support provided by Family Hospice met that criteria. Likewise, the care should “consider the evolving spiritual needs” of both the patient and the family; 93 percent of caregivers report these needs were addressed by the Family Hospice team of physicians, nurses, social workers, spiritual counselors and home health aides. Additionally, the IOM advocates for care that minimizes “high rates of apparently preventable hospitalizations which can fragment the delivery of care and create
If you are interested in learning more about Friends of Family Hospice, contact Jane Johnson, President, at jane341@aol.com.
burdens for patients and families.” The hospital readmission rate for patients served by Family Hospice is 2.2% percent, well below the average for other programs and environments and 2 percent lower than the national average for hospices. Professional education and development is an expressed priority of the IOM, specifically correcting the “insufficient attention to palliative care in medical and nursing school curricula” that results in health care professionals inadequately prepared to meet the need. All Family Hospice physicians are boardcertified in hospice and palliative care. President and CEO Barbara Ivanko has achieved certification as a hospice and palliative care administrator. The organization continues to support staff in their pursuit of available discipline-specific certification. Additionally, Family Hospice remains a highly regarded learning environment for students, interns, residents and fellows across disciplines. Family Hospice shares the IOM’s interest in transparency and accessibility in reporting of outcomes that measure quality of care. The information presented above, for example, comes largely from satisfaction surveys submitted by the families of individuals under our care. Look for further examples woven through our Facebook and Twitter pages as well as under the new Quality Measures tab of our web site, FamilyHospicePA.org.
Please engrave the following name into the Celebration of Life Wall: 20 character maximum, including spaces. Please print CLEARLY.
Barbara Ivanko President & CEO
Your Name
Your Street Address
City, State, ZIP
Your Email Address
PAY BY CHECK: Make your $1,000 tax-deductible check to Family Hospice & Palliative Care.
This newsletter is published three times annually. Permission must be granted for reprinting of articles that appear here. Please direct questions, comments and/or requests to Liz McKenna at 412-572-8468 or lmckenna@FamilyHospicePA.org. Go Green! If you would prefer to receive your copy of our newsletter via e-mail, sign up from the home page of our website or contact Liz McKenna as indicated above.
Remember Family Hospice 171 on you United Way pledge
Celebration of Life Wall
PAY BY CREDIT CARD: ___ Visa ___ MasterCard ___ American Express ___ Discover Your Card No.
Expiration Date
3-Digit Security Code
Mail to: Family Hospice, Development Office, 50 Moffett Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15243
Little Things Means a Lot In a 2012 interview on National Public Radio, palliative care specialist Dr. Ira Byock said, “As a physician I can only help define what ‘the best care possible’ is for a patient when I know the person I am caring for. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my years of practice is that illness is only partly medical. While people who are seriously ill obviously have medical problems, the fundamental nature of illness is personal.” Family Hospice and Palliative Care patient volunteer Jack Wall, an admirer of Dr. Byock’s book “The Best Care Possible,” agrees. “There’s always something extra you can bring to the experience when you really get to know the individual,” says Jack. When he makes a special trip to the Strip District to purchase a patient’s favorite coffee or pierogies, it is because being a hospice volunteer has taught him that relatively small, simple gestures like a cup of coffee mean more at this stage of life. Jack resides in Mt. Lebanon with his wife Irene. In his eleventh year of service to Family Hospice, he continues to sit vigil with imminently dying persons, assist in the feeding of patients at the Mt. Lebanon inpatient center and provide respite to caregivers. Says Jack, “I always have a good feeling after completing a visit, knowing that the time could not have been spent in a more meaningful fashion.” Jack describes his volunteering as a vocation and believes that everything he has undertaken is connected to it. While in college, Jack worked as a hospital orderly and learned great respect for the nurses and aides. As a “hands on” person himself, he admired the way they tended to their patients. Years later, already a seasoned hospice volunteer, Jack completed an enrichment training in the safe feeding of patients. “You don’t get any closer to a person than when you are easing the way for him or her,” reflects Jack. “These are intimate, precious moments.” Today, at age 81, Jack is an avid long distance cyclist and is recently returned from a 250 mile ride in Florida. He recognizes that remaining healthy and strong also supports his volunteer vocation and his aspiration “to be doing this when I’m 90.”
For those who know Jack, it’s easy to imagine he will reach that milestone. His fellow hospice team members attest to his sense of vocation. Says RN Carrie Benedict, “Jack’s quiet presence at bedside reassures families and staff that our patients will not be alone. That’s the heart of hospice care.” To learn more about volunteering, contact Nick Petti, 412-572-8806, npetti@FamilyHospicePA.org or visit our web site, FamilyHospicePA.org.
Reaching Diverse Communities Continued from cover page
“We hope it will allow all who attended to consider hospice as a resource consistent with their own wishes.” In addition to the concert, Mary has held a breakfast workshop with 25 pastors from local African-American churches on supporting their members at end of life, as well as a one-day camp for grieving children who reside in the city’s Northview Heights neighborhood and a sequence of discussions with more than 100 church congregants on the value of hospice and palliative care services. In the course of her outreach, Mary has found placing end of life in the continuum of taking responsibility for one’s health to be a fruitful approach. She utilizes a document called “The Five Wishes” as a tool in guiding conversation towards decision-making that can ease the way for individuals and families when illness or injury presents itself. “We sing and shout about heaven,” observes Mary, “but no one wants to talk about the process. We have to change that for our own sake and for the sake of our community.” To learn more about “The Five Wishes” or to request a presentation, please contact Rebecca Hopwood, Manager, Education Services, at 412-572-8818.
Dear Friends, Naturally, the prospect of a new year leads me to thoughts of the future. And I’m not alone in that. For some, the future is overwhelming, a source of apprehension. For those meeting 2015 in the absence of a loved one, Family Hospice and Palliative Care offers resources and programs to support bereaved persons in their healing. Our hope is that these services can replace grief with possibility, as it did for Ann Adams, who graciously shared her experience.
Treasure Sale Success
For others, like volunteer Jack Wall, the future is a goal, whether it is miles logged on a bike ride, time spent in service to others or even a milestone birthday. For Family Hospice as an organization, the future is now. Beginning in 2017, Medicare will make public data gathered from hospices nationally related to quality outcomes that can be shared and compared in the interest of accountability to the consumer and to funding sources. This interest mirrors one of a number of recommendations put forth recently by the Institute of Medicine in its report “Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near End of Life.” Family Hospice is ahead of the curve, already making quality outcomes available on our web site, via our social media outlets and in our printed materials. Only hospice programs that demonstrate excellence in the delivery of care will survive the coalescing forces of shrinking financial resources, increasing regulatory oversight and growing demand for services outside the hospital environment in the era of health care reform. Thanks to the efforts of our exceptional staff and volunteers in the service of 3,600 individuals and caregivers across nine Western Pennsylvania counties, Family Hospice will be among them. How fortunate we are as an organization to meet the new year with optimism. I hope it is the same for you and for those you love, and I wish you all the best in 2015. Gratefully,
Family Hospice extends our most grateful thanks to Friends of Family Hospice. The group worked diligently for many months to collect, price and sell gently used furniture and other collectibles that comprised the items sold at the Friends’ Treasure Sale in September. As a result of their efforts, they were able to contribute more than $10,000 towards the purchase of equipment to facilitate patient care. Their gifts ranged from infant scales used by our clinical staff in the field, to clocks for our Lawrenceville inpatient center rooms, to bed alarms with mats for our inpatient center beds.
Evaluating the Quality of Care at Family Hospice The Institute of Medicine (IOM) provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policy makers, health professionals, the private sector and the public. Earlier this year, the IOM released a report entitled “Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life.” In it, the IOM concludes that person-centered, familyoriented care that honors individual preferences and promotes quality through the end of life should be a national priority.
With the expressed interests of both patient satisfaction and sustainability of the health care system in mind, the report’s key findings and recommendations demonstrate that broad improvement in end-of-life care is within reach, and Family Hospice is on the forefront of those improvements. For example, the IOM suggests that comprehensive end-of-life care should be consistent with an “individuals’ values, goals and informed preferences.” Ninety-five percent of caregivers report that support provided by Family Hospice met that criteria. Likewise, the care should “consider the evolving spiritual needs” of both the patient and the family; 93 percent of caregivers report these needs were addressed by the Family Hospice team of physicians, nurses, social workers, spiritual counselors and home health aides. Additionally, the IOM advocates for care that minimizes “high rates of apparently preventable hospitalizations which can fragment the delivery of care and create
If you are interested in learning more about Friends of Family Hospice, contact Jane Johnson, President, at jane341@aol.com.
burdens for patients and families.” The hospital readmission rate for patients served by Family Hospice is 2.2% percent, well below the average for other programs and environments and 2 percent lower than the national average for hospices. Professional education and development is an expressed priority of the IOM, specifically correcting the “insufficient attention to palliative care in medical and nursing school curricula” that results in health care professionals inadequately prepared to meet the need. All Family Hospice physicians are boardcertified in hospice and palliative care. President and CEO Barbara Ivanko has achieved certification as a hospice and palliative care administrator. The organization continues to support staff in their pursuit of available discipline-specific certification. Additionally, Family Hospice remains a highly regarded learning environment for students, interns, residents and fellows across disciplines. Family Hospice shares the IOM’s interest in transparency and accessibility in reporting of outcomes that measure quality of care. The information presented above, for example, comes largely from satisfaction surveys submitted by the families of individuals under our care. Look for further examples woven through our Facebook and Twitter pages as well as under the new Quality Measures tab of our web site, FamilyHospicePA.org.
Please engrave the following name into the Celebration of Life Wall: 20 character maximum, including spaces. Please print CLEARLY.
Barbara Ivanko President & CEO
Your Name
Your Street Address
City, State, ZIP
Your Email Address
PAY BY CHECK: Make your $1,000 tax-deductible check to Family Hospice & Palliative Care.
This newsletter is published three times annually. Permission must be granted for reprinting of articles that appear here. Please direct questions, comments and/or requests to Liz McKenna at 412-572-8468 or lmckenna@FamilyHospicePA.org. Go Green! If you would prefer to receive your copy of our newsletter via e-mail, sign up from the home page of our website or contact Liz McKenna as indicated above.
Remember Family Hospice 171 on you United Way pledge
Celebration of Life Wall
PAY BY CREDIT CARD: ___ Visa ___ MasterCard ___ American Express ___ Discover Your Card No.
Expiration Date
3-Digit Security Code
Mail to: Family Hospice, Development Office, 50 Moffett Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15243
Little Things Means a Lot In a 2012 interview on National Public Radio, palliative care specialist Dr. Ira Byock said, “As a physician I can only help define what ‘the best care possible’ is for a patient when I know the person I am caring for. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my years of practice is that illness is only partly medical. While people who are seriously ill obviously have medical problems, the fundamental nature of illness is personal.” Family Hospice and Palliative Care patient volunteer Jack Wall, an admirer of Dr. Byock’s book “The Best Care Possible,” agrees. “There’s always something extra you can bring to the experience when you really get to know the individual,” says Jack. When he makes a special trip to the Strip District to purchase a patient’s favorite coffee or pierogies, it is because being a hospice volunteer has taught him that relatively small, simple gestures like a cup of coffee mean more at this stage of life. Jack resides in Mt. Lebanon with his wife Irene. In his eleventh year of service to Family Hospice, he continues to sit vigil with imminently dying persons, assist in the feeding of patients at the Mt. Lebanon inpatient center and provide respite to caregivers. Says Jack, “I always have a good feeling after completing a visit, knowing that the time could not have been spent in a more meaningful fashion.” Jack describes his volunteering as a vocation and believes that everything he has undertaken is connected to it. While in college, Jack worked as a hospital orderly and learned great respect for the nurses and aides. As a “hands on” person himself, he admired the way they tended to their patients. Years later, already a seasoned hospice volunteer, Jack completed an enrichment training in the safe feeding of patients. “You don’t get any closer to a person than when you are easing the way for him or her,” reflects Jack. “These are intimate, precious moments.” Today, at age 81, Jack is an avid long distance cyclist and is recently returned from a 250 mile ride in Florida. He recognizes that remaining healthy and strong also supports his volunteer vocation and his aspiration “to be doing this when I’m 90.”
For those who know Jack, it’s easy to imagine he will reach that milestone. His fellow hospice team members attest to his sense of vocation. Says RN Carrie Benedict, “Jack’s quiet presence at bedside reassures families and staff that our patients will not be alone. That’s the heart of hospice care.” To learn more about volunteering, contact Nick Petti, 412-572-8806, npetti@FamilyHospicePA.org or visit our web site, FamilyHospicePA.org.
Reaching Diverse Communities Continued from cover page
“We hope it will allow all who attended to consider hospice as a resource consistent with their own wishes.” In addition to the concert, Mary has held a breakfast workshop with 25 pastors from local African-American churches on supporting their members at end of life, as well as a one-day camp for grieving children who reside in the city’s Northview Heights neighborhood and a sequence of discussions with more than 100 church congregants on the value of hospice and palliative care services. In the course of her outreach, Mary has found placing end of life in the continuum of taking responsibility for one’s health to be a fruitful approach. She utilizes a document called “The Five Wishes” as a tool in guiding conversation towards decision-making that can ease the way for individuals and families when illness or injury presents itself. “We sing and shout about heaven,” observes Mary, “but no one wants to talk about the process. We have to change that for our own sake and for the sake of our community.” To learn more about “The Five Wishes” or to request a presentation, please contact Rebecca Hopwood, Manager, Education Services, at 412-572-8818.
Dear Friends, Naturally, the prospect of a new year leads me to thoughts of the future. And I’m not alone in that. For some, the future is overwhelming, a source of apprehension. For those meeting 2015 in the absence of a loved one, Family Hospice and Palliative Care offers resources and programs to support bereaved persons in their healing. Our hope is that these services can replace grief with possibility, as it did for Ann Adams, who graciously shared her experience.
Treasure Sale Success
For others, like volunteer Jack Wall, the future is a goal, whether it is miles logged on a bike ride, time spent in service to others or even a milestone birthday. For Family Hospice as an organization, the future is now. Beginning in 2017, Medicare will make public data gathered from hospices nationally related to quality outcomes that can be shared and compared in the interest of accountability to the consumer and to funding sources. This interest mirrors one of a number of recommendations put forth recently by the Institute of Medicine in its report “Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near End of Life.” Family Hospice is ahead of the curve, already making quality outcomes available on our web site, via our social media outlets and in our printed materials. Only hospice programs that demonstrate excellence in the delivery of care will survive the coalescing forces of shrinking financial resources, increasing regulatory oversight and growing demand for services outside the hospital environment in the era of health care reform. Thanks to the efforts of our exceptional staff and volunteers in the service of 3,600 individuals and caregivers across nine Western Pennsylvania counties, Family Hospice will be among them. How fortunate we are as an organization to meet the new year with optimism. I hope it is the same for you and for those you love, and I wish you all the best in 2015. Gratefully,
Family Hospice extends our most grateful thanks to Friends of Family Hospice. The group worked diligently for many months to collect, price and sell gently used furniture and other collectibles that comprised the items sold at the Friends’ Treasure Sale in September. As a result of their efforts, they were able to contribute more than $10,000 towards the purchase of equipment to facilitate patient care. Their gifts ranged from infant scales used by our clinical staff in the field, to clocks for our Lawrenceville inpatient center rooms, to bed alarms with mats for our inpatient center beds.
Evaluating the Quality of Care at Family Hospice The Institute of Medicine (IOM) provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policy makers, health professionals, the private sector and the public. Earlier this year, the IOM released a report entitled “Dying in America: Improving Quality and Honoring Individual Preferences Near the End of Life.” In it, the IOM concludes that person-centered, familyoriented care that honors individual preferences and promotes quality through the end of life should be a national priority.
With the expressed interests of both patient satisfaction and sustainability of the health care system in mind, the report’s key findings and recommendations demonstrate that broad improvement in end-of-life care is within reach, and Family Hospice is on the forefront of those improvements. For example, the IOM suggests that comprehensive end-of-life care should be consistent with an “individuals’ values, goals and informed preferences.” Ninety-five percent of caregivers report that support provided by Family Hospice met that criteria. Likewise, the care should “consider the evolving spiritual needs” of both the patient and the family; 93 percent of caregivers report these needs were addressed by the Family Hospice team of physicians, nurses, social workers, spiritual counselors and home health aides. Additionally, the IOM advocates for care that minimizes “high rates of apparently preventable hospitalizations which can fragment the delivery of care and create
If you are interested in learning more about Friends of Family Hospice, contact Jane Johnson, President, at jane341@aol.com.
burdens for patients and families.” The hospital readmission rate for patients served by Family Hospice is 2.2% percent, well below the average for other programs and environments and 2 percent lower than the national average for hospices. Professional education and development is an expressed priority of the IOM, specifically correcting the “insufficient attention to palliative care in medical and nursing school curricula” that results in health care professionals inadequately prepared to meet the need. All Family Hospice physicians are boardcertified in hospice and palliative care. President and CEO Barbara Ivanko has achieved certification as a hospice and palliative care administrator. The organization continues to support staff in their pursuit of available discipline-specific certification. Additionally, Family Hospice remains a highly regarded learning environment for students, interns, residents and fellows across disciplines. Family Hospice shares the IOM’s interest in transparency and accessibility in reporting of outcomes that measure quality of care. The information presented above, for example, comes largely from satisfaction surveys submitted by the families of individuals under our care. Look for further examples woven through our Facebook and Twitter pages as well as under the new Quality Measures tab of our web site, FamilyHospicePA.org.
Please engrave the following name into the Celebration of Life Wall: 20 character maximum, including spaces. Please print CLEARLY.
Barbara Ivanko President & CEO
Your Name
Your Street Address
City, State, ZIP
Your Email Address
PAY BY CHECK: Make your $1,000 tax-deductible check to Family Hospice & Palliative Care.
This newsletter is published three times annually. Permission must be granted for reprinting of articles that appear here. Please direct questions, comments and/or requests to Liz McKenna at 412-572-8468 or lmckenna@FamilyHospicePA.org. Go Green! If you would prefer to receive your copy of our newsletter via e-mail, sign up from the home page of our website or contact Liz McKenna as indicated above.
Remember Family Hospice 171 on you United Way pledge
Celebration of Life Wall
PAY BY CREDIT CARD: ___ Visa ___ MasterCard ___ American Express ___ Discover Your Card No.
Expiration Date
3-Digit Security Code
Mail to: Family Hospice, Development Office, 50 Moffett Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15243
Little Things Means a Lot In a 2012 interview on National Public Radio, palliative care specialist Dr. Ira Byock said, “As a physician I can only help define what ‘the best care possible’ is for a patient when I know the person I am caring for. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my years of practice is that illness is only partly medical. While people who are seriously ill obviously have medical problems, the fundamental nature of illness is personal.” Family Hospice and Palliative Care patient volunteer Jack Wall, an admirer of Dr. Byock’s book “The Best Care Possible,” agrees. “There’s always something extra you can bring to the experience when you really get to know the individual,” says Jack. When he makes a special trip to the Strip District to purchase a patient’s favorite coffee or pierogies, it is because being a hospice volunteer has taught him that relatively small, simple gestures like a cup of coffee mean more at this stage of life. Jack resides in Mt. Lebanon with his wife Irene. In his eleventh year of service to Family Hospice, he continues to sit vigil with imminently dying persons, assist in the feeding of patients at the Mt. Lebanon inpatient center and provide respite to caregivers. Says Jack, “I always have a good feeling after completing a visit, knowing that the time could not have been spent in a more meaningful fashion.” Jack describes his volunteering as a vocation and believes that everything he has undertaken is connected to it. While in college, Jack worked as a hospital orderly and learned great respect for the nurses and aides. As a “hands on” person himself, he admired the way they tended to their patients. Years later, already a seasoned hospice volunteer, Jack completed an enrichment training in the safe feeding of patients. “You don’t get any closer to a person than when you are easing the way for him or her,” reflects Jack. “These are intimate, precious moments.” Today, at age 81, Jack is an avid long distance cyclist and is recently returned from a 250 mile ride in Florida. He recognizes that remaining healthy and strong also supports his volunteer vocation and his aspiration “to be doing this when I’m 90.”
For those who know Jack, it’s easy to imagine he will reach that milestone. His fellow hospice team members attest to his sense of vocation. Says RN Carrie Benedict, “Jack’s quiet presence at bedside reassures families and staff that our patients will not be alone. That’s the heart of hospice care.” To learn more about volunteering, contact Nick Petti, 412-572-8806, npetti@FamilyHospicePA.org or visit our web site, FamilyHospicePA.org.
Reaching Diverse Communities Continued from cover page
“We hope it will allow all who attended to consider hospice as a resource consistent with their own wishes.” In addition to the concert, Mary has held a breakfast workshop with 25 pastors from local African-American churches on supporting their members at end of life, as well as a one-day camp for grieving children who reside in the city’s Northview Heights neighborhood and a sequence of discussions with more than 100 church congregants on the value of hospice and palliative care services. In the course of her outreach, Mary has found placing end of life in the continuum of taking responsibility for one’s health to be a fruitful approach. She utilizes a document called “The Five Wishes” as a tool in guiding conversation towards decision-making that can ease the way for individuals and families when illness or injury presents itself. “We sing and shout about heaven,” observes Mary, “but no one wants to talk about the process. We have to change that for our own sake and for the sake of our community.” To learn more about “The Five Wishes” or to request a presentation, please contact Rebecca Hopwood, Manager, Education Services, at 412-572-8818.
Coming to Terms with Loss Bob “Scrummy” Adams lived with joy, had no regret and believed you could work through any dispute if you just sat down and talked it through together. He worked at U. S. Steel, served as a volunteer firefighter and threw legendary Christmas Eve parties. When his wife died at age 36, he raised four children on his own, including daughter Ann, who still resides in the family home they shared for years. Bob lived out his final days at Family Hospice and Palliative Care’s Mt. Lebanon inpatient center in 2012. Ann remembers it vividly, in particular how the staff cared for her and for her family with the same skill and compassion they demonstrated towards her father. Staff recognized that her dad’s death would be difficult for Ann and encouraged her to take advantage of the 13 months of bereavement support afforded to caregivers through the Medicare hospice benefit, which can include individual counseling. “I’m not someone who’s used to talking about very personal things, so I couldn’t imagine what we could possibly talk about for a whole hour,” Ann recalls, “but that all went away when Mara came to the house, put her things down and got on the floor with Kal. “Mara” is Family Hospice Bereavement Counselor Mara Baginski and “Kal” is Ann’s beloved greyhound. To Ann’s surprise, the hour flew by, and the two scheduled an appointment for the next month. Ann and Mara met regularly over the next year. “Back when my mom died, no one talked about it. We all just moved on. Mara helped me recognize that when my dad died, I lost my mom, my dad and my friend all at once. I couldn’t ‘move on’ again without help.” Help meant taking time for tears. It meant encouraging Ann to reconnect with her church community. It meant grieving anew when Kal died. It also meant letting go of the guilt Ann was carrying, the feeling that she should have “made people listen” when she suspected her father’s cancer had returned. This was an arduous process for Ann. “One day, Mara asked me to visualize my dad sitting in the recliner again and then imagine what he would say. I told her he’d probably ask what I’d done to the living room because I’d painted and rearranged the furniture, and he wasn’t one for change. But he
Family Hospice & Palliative Care 50 Moffett Street Pittsburgh, PA 15243
Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Pittsburgh, PA Permit No. 02743
2014 WINTER NEWSLETTER
certainly wouldn’t say that I hadn’t done enough. That was a real breakthrough for me.” The other thing Mara helped Ann do was give herself permission to have fun again, when she was ready. “Mara explained that this was how Dad would live on in us,” Ann smiled. “He would want me to enjoy life.” And with that, true to her father’s legacy, Ann returned to Thanksgiving preparations, ready to host family the next day. Bob would be pleased. To learn more about our bereavement outreach, call 412-572-8829 or visit FamilyHospicePA.org.
Reaching Diverse Communities S
hould you find yourself in need of inspiration, you can do no better than gospel music shaking the rafters of the historic Wesley Center AME Zion Church in the Hill District, as was the case on a recent Sunday night. As evening fell, song and spirits soared at the “Festival of Voices,” a concert of local choirs and gospel talent featuring special guest vocalist and award-winning gospel artist Bishop Yvette Flunder. Sponsored by Family Hospice and Palliative Care, the gathering was one of several recent outreach efforts in the African-American community, a population less likely to elect hospice at end of life.
The Mission of Family Hospice and Palliative Care is to provide compassionate, quality comfort care that enhances the lives of people with life-limiting illness and their families.
Gifting Stock as a Charitable Contribution
As the end of the calendar year approaches, many people are thinking about their year-end gifts to charity and asking for smart tax planning ideas. Donating appreciated stock (or mutual fund shares) from your investment portfolio instead of cash can yield tax benefits to you in addition to a meaningful contribution to the charity. Gifts of securities that you have held for at least 12 months and one day may be made directly to Family Hospice and Palliative Care and are eligible for tax deductions equal to their full market value on the date the gift is received by the charity. For donors who utilize this gifting strategy, capital gain tax that you would have paid will be avoided. This is a nice way to manage your portfolio particularly if you have one large stock position that has a very low cost that you are reluctant to sell. If you would like further information on gifts of stock to charity, talk with your broker or your financial advisor. For instructions on making gifts of stock to Family Hospice and Palliative Care contact Lynn Helbling Sirinek, Vice President, Philanthropy at 412-572-8874.
Mission Statement
Board of Directors
Bishop Flunder, pastor of the City of Refuge United Church of Christ in Oakland, California, wasted no time in meeting any apprehensions around end-of-life discussion head-on. “You can’t really live until you quit worrying about how you are going to die. You can decide whether you are going to go coach or first class. My determination is to finish well,” she exhorted those gathered. “We value the opportunity to gather in an affirming way to offer useful information about end-of-life care in conjunction with the concert,” said Family Hospice Spiritual Care Specialist and Transitions Project Leader Reverend Mary Lovett. The Transitions program is designed to increase awareness of and access to services that support families facing life-limiting illness within the African-American community of Pittsburgh’s Greater North Side.
Continued inside right
Robert E. Butter, Chair Deborah Brodine, Vice Chair Bruce Austin, Secretary Paul Winkler, Immediate Past Chair Kathi R. Boyle Kimberly Ward Burns
David Friedland, MD Joseph E. Kennedy Barry C. Lembersky, MD Lisa Turbeville Markowski Sandra Tomlinson G. Alan Yeasted, MD Barbara Ivanko, President and CEO
Institutional Advancement Committee Lisa Turbeville Markowski, Chair Robert E. Butter Ruth G. Foltz Nancy F. Gannon
Caroline Hellwig Jane D. Johnson Joseph E. Kennedy Christine McMahon Tumpson
FamilyHospicePA.org
Coming to Terms with Loss Bob “Scrummy” Adams lived with joy, had no regret and believed you could work through any dispute if you just sat down and talked it through together. He worked at U. S. Steel, served as a volunteer firefighter and threw legendary Christmas Eve parties. When his wife died at age 36, he raised four children on his own, including daughter Ann, who still resides in the family home they shared for years. Bob lived out his final days at Family Hospice and Palliative Care’s Mt. Lebanon inpatient center in 2012. Ann remembers it vividly, in particular how the staff cared for her and for her family with the same skill and compassion they demonstrated towards her father. Staff recognized that her dad’s death would be difficult for Ann and encouraged her to take advantage of the 13 months of bereavement support afforded to caregivers through the Medicare hospice benefit, which can include individual counseling. “I’m not someone who’s used to talking about very personal things, so I couldn’t imagine what we could possibly talk about for a whole hour,” Ann recalls, “but that all went away when Mara came to the house, put her things down and got on the floor with Kal. “Mara” is Family Hospice Bereavement Counselor Mara Baginski and “Kal” is Ann’s beloved greyhound. To Ann’s surprise, the hour flew by, and the two scheduled an appointment for the next month. Ann and Mara met regularly over the next year. “Back when my mom died, no one talked about it. We all just moved on. Mara helped me recognize that when my dad died, I lost my mom, my dad and my friend all at once. I couldn’t ‘move on’ again without help.” Help meant taking time for tears. It meant encouraging Ann to reconnect with her church community. It meant grieving anew when Kal died. It also meant letting go of the guilt Ann was carrying, the feeling that she should have “made people listen” when she suspected her father’s cancer had returned. This was an arduous process for Ann. “One day, Mara asked me to visualize my dad sitting in the recliner again and then imagine what he would say. I told her he’d probably ask what I’d done to the living room because I’d painted and rearranged the furniture, and he wasn’t one for change. But he
Family Hospice & Palliative Care 50 Moffett Street Pittsburgh, PA 15243
Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Pittsburgh, PA Permit No. 02743
2014 WINTER NEWSLETTER
certainly wouldn’t say that I hadn’t done enough. That was a real breakthrough for me.” The other thing Mara helped Ann do was give herself permission to have fun again, when she was ready. “Mara explained that this was how Dad would live on in us,” Ann smiled. “He would want me to enjoy life.” And with that, true to her father’s legacy, Ann returned to Thanksgiving preparations, ready to host family the next day. Bob would be pleased. To learn more about our bereavement outreach, call 412-572-8829 or visit FamilyHospicePA.org.
Reaching Diverse Communities S
hould you find yourself in need of inspiration, you can do no better than gospel music shaking the rafters of the historic Wesley Center AME Zion Church in the Hill District, as was the case on a recent Sunday night. As evening fell, song and spirits soared at the “Festival of Voices,” a concert of local choirs and gospel talent featuring special guest vocalist and award-winning gospel artist Bishop Yvette Flunder. Sponsored by Family Hospice and Palliative Care, the gathering was one of several recent outreach efforts in the African-American community, a population less likely to elect hospice at end of life.
The Mission of Family Hospice and Palliative Care is to provide compassionate, quality comfort care that enhances the lives of people with life-limiting illness and their families.
Gifting Stock as a Charitable Contribution
As the end of the calendar year approaches, many people are thinking about their year-end gifts to charity and asking for smart tax planning ideas. Donating appreciated stock (or mutual fund shares) from your investment portfolio instead of cash can yield tax benefits to you in addition to a meaningful contribution to the charity. Gifts of securities that you have held for at least 12 months and one day may be made directly to Family Hospice and Palliative Care and are eligible for tax deductions equal to their full market value on the date the gift is received by the charity. For donors who utilize this gifting strategy, capital gain tax that you would have paid will be avoided. This is a nice way to manage your portfolio particularly if you have one large stock position that has a very low cost that you are reluctant to sell. If you would like further information on gifts of stock to charity, talk with your broker or your financial advisor. For instructions on making gifts of stock to Family Hospice and Palliative Care contact Lynn Helbling Sirinek, Vice President, Philanthropy at 412-572-8874.
Mission Statement
Board of Directors
Bishop Flunder, pastor of the City of Refuge United Church of Christ in Oakland, California, wasted no time in meeting any apprehensions around end-of-life discussion head-on. “You can’t really live until you quit worrying about how you are going to die. You can decide whether you are going to go coach or first class. My determination is to finish well,” she exhorted those gathered. “We value the opportunity to gather in an affirming way to offer useful information about end-of-life care in conjunction with the concert,” said Family Hospice Spiritual Care Specialist and Transitions Project Leader Reverend Mary Lovett. The Transitions program is designed to increase awareness of and access to services that support families facing life-limiting illness within the African-American community of Pittsburgh’s Greater North Side.
Continued inside right
Robert E. Butter, Chair Deborah Brodine, Vice Chair Bruce Austin, Secretary Paul Winkler, Immediate Past Chair Kathi R. Boyle Kimberly Ward Burns
David Friedland, MD Joseph E. Kennedy Barry C. Lembersky, MD Lisa Turbeville Markowski Sandra Tomlinson G. Alan Yeasted, MD Barbara Ivanko, President and CEO
Institutional Advancement Committee Lisa Turbeville Markowski, Chair Robert E. Butter Ruth G. Foltz Nancy F. Gannon
Caroline Hellwig Jane D. Johnson Joseph E. Kennedy Christine McMahon Tumpson
FamilyHospicePA.org