We are excited to announce that Center for Hospice Care (CHC) is one of two recipients of the American Hospital Association (AHA) 2023 Circle of Life Award. This prestigious award “honors hospital and palliative care programs that are ensuring equitable access to care, implementing nontraditional models of care delivery and payment, fully integrating palliative care into a system of care or a community, making palliative care financially sustainable, developing meaningful measures and metrics to track progress, or partnering with payers, other providers, community groups and faith communities.”
“This year’s Circle of Life award honorees have implemented timely, safe and efficient palliative and end-of-life care programs,” said Rick Pollack, AHA’s president and CEO. “Whether addressing disparities in access to palliative care, providing grief counseling or developing clinical quality metrics, these programs play an instrumental role in serving people with life-limiting illnesses, their families and their communities.”
The AHA cited CHC’s operation of Raclin House and Esther’s House, the outpatient Center for Palliative Care, the Life Transitions Center for bereavement counseling, Milton Adult Day Services, the Center for Education & Advance Care Planning, Honoring Choices® Indiana – North Central and Global Partners in Care as noteworthy aspects of CHC’s work. All of these programs are made possible by the many partnerships CHC and the Hospice Foundation have made within the community (and across the globe) over their 43-year history.
“It’s partnerships, partnerships, partnerships,” says Phil Newbold, CHC’s interim CEO. “Plugging into the health care systems, the education systems, the other not-for-profits and the health and human services organizations – that’s the way that all of us in the community get better.” In a publication about the award winners, AHA says about CHC, “If there’s something good happening in the South Bend, Indiana area, Center for Hospice Care wants to be a part of it. That can mean providing student-learning experiences for area universities, helping to establish a fellowship in hospice and palliative care at a medical school, teaching college courses or sponsoring another nonprofits fundraising event.”
According to Cyndy Searfoss, director of education and collaborative partnerships for Hospice Foundation, “Being engaged in our community is absolutely essential to making sure that everyone in our community eventually will know what hospice and palliative care does and why you should want to use those services for as long as possible and not just the days and weeks leading up to the end of life. And this also makes sure that we are developing the next generation of providers for those services.
The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the health improvements of their communities. The AHA advocates on behalf of nearly 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, clinician partners – including more than 270,000 affiliated physicians, 2 million nurses and other caregivers – and the 43,000 health care leaders who belong to their professional membership groups. Founded in 1898, the AHA proveds insight and education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. For more information visit the AHA website.
Representatives of Center for Hospice Care and the Hospice Foundation will receive the award during AHA’s Leadership Summit in Seattle, WA on Monday, July 17th.