Florida Hospital HospiceCare Leadership Team

A Message from our Administrative Director JoAnne King, MBA, LCSW, CAHA

As the area’s only hospice that is both faith-based and accredited by The Joint Commission, Florida Hospital HospiceCare provides the most comprehensive range of hospice services in this community.  Our team of nurses, social workers, chaplains, home health aides, and volunteers are available to provide care and support to anyone with a life-limiting illness wherever they live.  As a lifelong resident of this community, it is my privilege to work with the Florida Hospital HospiceCare team to bring compassionate care to terminally ill patients and their families in Volusia and Flagler counties.

Florida Hospital HospiceCare has cared for thousands of our neighbors since we began operations in 1996.  One of the most frequent comments we hear from both patients and families is that “We wish we had your services sooner.”  All too often, doctors, patients, and families think that choosing hospice care means “giving up.”  The truth is actually to the contrary. A study published in the March 2007 issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management reports that hospice care may prolong the lives of some terminally ill patients.  Among the patient populations studied, the mean survival was 29 days longer for hospice patients than for non-hospice patients. In other words, patients who chose hospice care lived an average of one month longer than similar patients who did not choose hospice care (http://www.nhpco.org/).

All too often, patients and families do not receive the benefits of hospice care until the final days or even hours of the patient’s life.  There is so much more that the hospice team can offer if we are able to become involved sooner.  Often, once our medical team is able to address the patient’s pain and physical needs, then patients and families have more quality time to focus on what matters most – being with the ones we love, saying the things we’ve always wanted to say, and building memories to be cherished after our loved one has died.  This is some of the “real work” of the final part of life’s journey.

If you or someone you care about is dealing with a life-limiting illness, please call us at 1-800-404-1133.  A hospice nurse can meet with you and your family to discuss medical eligibility and how we can help.  It would be our honor and privilege to help and support you however we can.

Reference: http://www.nhpco.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=5145