Our guest speakers last Friday were Dr. Jim Congdon and Mark Johnson, Executive Director of Providence Hospice Care of Snohomish County. Mark is a Past President of the Rotary Club of Lynnwood.
What is Hospice? Hospice Care is defined as supportive care in the final phase of a terminal illness when a cure is not possible. Holistic care addresses, physical, emotional and spiritual concerns, seeing death as a natural process. The philosophy of hospice is to provide support for the patients emotional, social and spiritual needs as well as medical symptoms to treat the whole person. Ninety-nine percent of hospice care is in the patients home.
The Hospice Care Center opened in 2016 after a $5 million dollar building campaign. The hospice movement was started by two women: Dr. Cicely Saunders (England) and Florence Wold (US). There are 350 member agencies in over 100 countries. In 2018 there were 4,600 hospice agencies serving 1.5 million patients in the United States. There are only three hospice providers in Snohomish County.
Sister Georgette Bayless who passed away in 2016 was the one responsible for starting hospice at Providence Hospital. Providence Hospice and Home Care is non-life threating and services range from 290-310 patients per day.
Camp Erin is a child's hospice care dealing with grief brought on by the loss of a loved one. The Camp is named after Erin who developed liver cancer at 15 and died at 17. Erin's wish was to visited with Jamie Moyer, former pitcher for the Seattle Mariners. Camp Erin started in Washington but has expanded across the United States.
The video link on pediatric hospice care which is one of the only support systems in the area was unavailable to present during the meeting. You can watch it by clicking this link.