Hospice and Fund Raising

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Hello - I'm a Hospice nurse who is also attending a RN-BSN program.

Today I had a clinical with an emergency preparedness group through Public Health . . which is where someone shared an unrelated story about post-partum moms getting a new take-home education packet with baby care instructions AND asking for donations for the new L&D/PP floor being built (the nurses tear that part out). The leader of the group mentioned that Hospice does the same thing with their bereavement package - adding info asking for donations to hospice. The concensus was that this was a terrible thing to do - especially for Hospice - since bereavement is a vulnerable time for families.

Do your hospice organizations do this? I was surprised to find that this does happen.

What do you think if it does happen?

Good, bad, ugly?

Thanks.

steph

[DDRN4me]

i think what our local hospice does is ask the families to consider donations to hospice in the pts memory. I personally am not offended; hospice is a vital service that is difficult to completely fund with insurance or Medicare.

[caliotter3]

One of my employers that included a hospice unit, pitched to all the employees for not only donations, but ongoing donations, to come straight out of our paychecks. I didn't mind this practice. What I did mind was having my arm twisted to do hospice cases because of call-offs. Not everyone wants to work with hospice. When these preferences are known to the employer, it doesn't go over well to give the hard sell to employees to do something that they do not wish to do.

[jeannepaul, BSN]

We have something like that in our admission packet. I usually take it out and throw it away.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Thanks - I asked at class tonight and I also asked some of my hospice co-workers.

The consensus among them was the same as DD's post:

. . "hospice is a vital service that is difficult to completely fund with insurance or Medicare."

Thanks!

steph

[rnboysmom]

We do not practice this concept in our hospice even though we do have a foundation and several of our past patients have contributed (we have used these funds for everything from paying for utility bills and safety monitoring systems for patients to paying for plane tickets to get loved ones home; we have even bought eyeglasses for patients who could not afford them so that they could see their loved ones). We have a really good relationship with most of our funeral homes in the area (we do excellent post mortem care and have all of the paperwork ready, etc.) and most of them suggest hospice as a donation source when the family does not have a specific charity of choice for donations in memory of their loved one.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

We do not practice this concept in our hospice even though we do have a foundation and several of our past patients have contributed (we have used these funds for everything from paying for utility bills and safety monitoring systems for patients to paying for plane tickets to get loved ones home; we have even bought eyeglasses for patients who could not afford them so that they could see their loved ones). We have a really good relationship with most of our funeral homes in the area (we do excellent post mortem care and have all of the paperwork ready, etc.) and most of them suggest hospice as a donation source when the family does not have a specific charity of choice for donations in memory of their loved one.

This is what we do.

steph

[shrinky]

If the family asks about donations I will give info, but we don't send anything to them. I think that if a patient has been on Hospice the funeral directors suggest it. We do a telethon once a year for donations from the community and also once a year do an employee appeal at the hospital and there are several causes the employees can choose to donate to, including Hospice. :typing