CONCORDIA HOSPICE OF WASHINGTON
134 Marwood Rd, Cabot, PA 16023 www.concordiahw.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: Concordia Hospice of Washington's mission is to deliver quality hospice services, in good faith, on behalf of those who entrust themselves to our care and to minister to the unique needs of each individual with respect, dignity and compassion. The vision of the organization sets us apart from many non-profit and for-profit agencies and that is to serve the Triune God by providing for the needs of His people. In accordance with the Organization's mission, we provide benevolent care to those individuals who are unable to pay for the full cost of their care. For the fiscal year ending 06/30/2020, a total of $14,970 in services was rendered as benevolent care.

Home Hospice/Nursing: Establish and maintain programs which provide supportive care for terminally ill patients and their families; and to provide associated services including, but not limited to, operation of a Non-Profit Hospice.

Concordia Hospice of Washington (CHOW) is a hospice agency in Washington, Pennsylvania. The agency's focus is on end-of-life quality, compassionate care for patients in our communities facing a terminally ill prognosis. The care is provided by a team that includes volunteers, registered nurses, social workers, home health aides, chaplains, bereavement counselors and medical directors. A plan of care is written for each patient and is followed by the interdisciplinary team to ensure that the agency is complying with federal regulations while providing the highest level of quality care for the patients and families. CHOW is part of a large continuum striving to care for people in their homes, avoid rehospitalizations, provide compassionate support to their families and improve their overall quality of life while on their end-of-life journey. At CHOW we make every effort to ensure our patients and their families are as comfortable as possible, whether at our inpatient location or with in-home visits. Each person in our care has individualized needs and requirements, so our approach to end-of-life care focuses on a patient specific plan of care. During fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 CHOW provided care through 25,571 days of care in all settings and across all levels of care. The CHOW Reflection of Care also continues to provide education, support and reassurance to families who have loved ones seeking hospice care or palliative care by listening to their concerns and facilitating a care plan. CHOW provides end-of-life hospice care in patients' homes as well as in-patient services at an eight-bed unit where patients can be placed for severe symptom management and hopefully return home when stabilized. CHOW has provided care to 308 patients and their families in the community. CHOW works with a home health agency and hospital system to facilitate a strong palliative care program that fosters compassionate transitions from nursing to hospice care as diseases or conditions progress. Hospice doctors and nurses are up to date on the latest medications for pain and symptom management. Hospice care is another level of care that concentrates on treating symptoms and ensuring comfort. Concordia Hospice of Washington believes that emotional and spiritual pain is just as real and in need of attention as physical pain and so addresses each. We provide clergy and counselors to help patients and families with emotional and spiritual needs. One on one bereavement counseling sessions are provided to families for those who we serve, as well as many families who have not been on our service. We get calls from the community asking if we are willing to provide counseling to those who had a death in the family but the individual was not on hospice and we are more than willing to assist. Concordia Hospice of Washington believes that receiving quality hospice care should not be dictated by whether you have health insurance or not. CHOW had the opportunity to provide care to someone who was in great need but was unable to pay for it. This patient was young and out of work because of her illness and therefore lost her insurance. Although she applied for Medicaid in NY state, when she moved back to PA to be closer to her family in her final days, she once again lost that coverage. CHOW was able to step in and provided much needed care and symptom management for the last 2 weeks of her life at no cost to her or her family. Cases like this one serve as a reminder of the agency's greater mission of serving our community. CHOW utilizes volunteers to go wherever the client calls their home; that could be a nursing facility, their house, or inpatient unit. These volunteers assist with various tasks and activities throughout the fiscal year. Over the course of this past fiscal year, the volunteers at Concordia Hospice of Washington have provided 449 hours of service. Patient volunteer requests are communicated through the Hospice Interdisciplinary team and are individualized based on the need of the patient and family. Volunteers are then scheduled to provide assistance with personal care activities, companionship, and support to caregivers and respite. These volunteers visit with patients, read to them, play music, provide pet therapy, spiritual support, speak with them in a preferred foreign language, and often simply grant a quiet, calm presence, or they might just sit with the client who has no family present while they are passing. Volunteers also assist in facilitating the discussion between families and physicians. Many volunteers donate their sewing and craft making skills to provide items of comfort to patients and families by creating prayer shawls, blankets, lap quilts and rosaries Volunteers also participate in the annual Memorial Service that we hold once a year in Washington County to honor the lives of the patients who passed away under our care during the year. They assist with the mailings, baking, setting up, greeting, music, and clean up after the event, or sometimes just offer moral support for the families. The event was held on November 7th, 2019. The agency provides education in the local community by discussing hospice care as it relates to a terminal disease. Volunteers help us with marketing and recruiting other volunteers. They help us when we go to health-related functions in the community and are available to discuss hospice services and volunteer opportunities with the public. The following organizations have received direct financial support from CHOW through donations and sponsorships of events: Rolling Meadows Nursing Home for their Halloween event, Transitions Assisted Living Facility, and to the Washington Health System Foundation for their Sporting Clay Event and Charity Ball. Total donations and sponsorships made during the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020 were just over $2,600. Concordia Hospice of Washington held its second annual Butterfly Release event on Saturday August 31, 2019. This memorial event was open to anyone who wanted to honor and celebrate the memory of their loved ones, whether or not they were ever on service at CHOW. The program included prayer, musical performance and participants releasing over 500 butterflies into the sky as a representation of letting go of their loved one into the hands of God. Many of CHOW's volunteers assisted with the event which was attended by over 200 people. The management company for home and community-based services of Concordia has a Mission Committee that organizes mission events during the fiscal year. Concordia Hospice of Washington employees have the opportunity to participate in these events throughout the year. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, CHOW employees volunteered to serve breakfast at the City Mission in Washington, PA. Additionally a food drive was done to benefit the Corner Cupboard. These events are some of the ways we serve God by providing for the needs of His people.

CHOW also offers in-patient care for help in the assessment and management of acute, complex or uncontrolled symptoms such as pain or shortness of breath. Analgesic needs that cannot be managed at home, such as complicated delivery mechanisms i.e., subcutaneous, frequent dose titration, and skilled nursing care with frequent monitoring can be provided in the general in-patient setting. CHOW provided this level of care to 138 patients and their families during this fiscal year end. The hospice staff are available at the Donnell House in-patient location around the clock to consult and provide support to families as they journey through the progression of the disease. Short-term respite care is also provided by nursing staff to alleviate the burden on family caregivers. On January 31, 2020, acting HHS Secretary Alex Azar first declared a public health emergency following the World Health Organization's recognition of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, as a pandemic. In response to this coronavirus outbreak, the state and federal governments have taken preventative or protective actions, such as imposing restrictions on travel and business operations and advising or requiring individuals to limit or forego their time outside of their homes. Daily high-level leadership meetings were established to assess and provide guidance to staff through every changing regulation surrounding the pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, education and guidance related to best practices and CDC protocol was provided by our corporate compliance team. This allowed our frontline workers to remain safe and able to provide quality care to many COVID affected patients and families. Employees were awarded a daily appreciation bonus for each shift worked. Even with decreased census when surrounding hospitals shut down, there were no layoffs as a result of the pandemic. A call center was established to call any current or referred patients even if they were declining visits to ensure there wasn't an exasperation of symptoms to avoid rehospitalizations. Infection control efforts were put into place in our offices and inpatient unit to protect staff and patients. Visitation was limited, however never fully suspended due to the nature of care that we provide. CHOW's inpatient unit became one of the few facilities in the region to keep relatively normal visitation during the end of life. The agency worked with a corporate purchasing team to ensure appropriate levels of personal protective equipment (PPE), laboratory equipment, tests and other related COVID response items were purchased to provide care is the safest way possible. The agency purchased $5,974 of PPE.

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