Dateline DFCI
Hospice program marks 25th anniversary of helping patients and families make every day count
Ruth Burnett drew support from her daughters (at left) and HealthCare Dimensions Hospice social worker Cheri Wenzel.
What began as a group of volunteers seeking to bring end-of-life care to one community in 1980 has evolved into a full-service hospice program that served nearly 800 patients and their families last year.
HealthCare Dimensions Hospice, which became a subsidiary of Dana-Farber in 2002, celebrated its 25th anniversary last fall. The Waltham, Mass.-based organization provides medical, social, and spiritual care for children and adults with terminal illnesses, doing so in homes, extended-care facilities, and hospitals in Boston and surrounding towns. After a person's death, it also offers grief counseling and other bereavement services to the family and close friends.
According to hospice Director Ellen Leiter, RN, the organization's role is to teach, comfort, console, and relieve suffering – and to help patients achieve the best possible quality of life when aggressive treatment is no longer appropriate.
"We try to help patients and families make every day count," she says. "Most of our families say, 'I wish I had known about hospice earlier.'" For more information, go to www.hcdhospice.org.
