Nursing Home Hospice Programs
Calvary’s Nursing Home Hospice began as a pilot project in a single nursing home in Manhattan, with the goal of bringing our comprehensive end-of-life care to residents. Calvary@Home now partners with nearly 30 nursing homes to provide hospice care, in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, and Westchester, Rockland and Nassau counties.
Our Nursing Home Hospice patients are among our most vulnerable: they are elderly and many are dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid.
We view Nursing Home Hospice patients as needing the same level – and continuity – of care as community patients. We assign permanent staff to specific patients to ensure consistency and maximize comfort for the patient and family.
Since this program began, we have been able to break the anguishing cycle of repeat ER admissions that all too often marks the end of life for nursing home residents.
“You become a nurse to help people get better. I don’t think it’s the type of job you can go to day to day and not feel for what you’re doing. In Hospice we’re helping them to die gracefully, comfortably, peacefully. I guess the most satisfying thing about working at Calvary is getting to meet so many families, we really have had the opportunity to touch a family, to make somebody’s life better, and make somebody’s death better. I think that the employees, the medical staff, all the employees at Calvary have a very high standard of commitment and compassion.”
Carmela Aiese, RN–Hospice Nurse