In just the first three months of 2024, Stillwater Hospice provided services to almost five dozen Kosciusko residents, CEO Leslie Friedel told the County Council Thursday in a quarterly update.
The council, during the budgeting process in 2023 for 2024, required Stillwater Hospice to give quarterly reports as part of them receiving $50,000 in nonprofit funding from the county.
Going over the highlights of her quarterly report, Friedel said they are going into year two of Kosciusko County Home Care & Hospice (KCHCH) having merged with Stillwater, which took place March 1, 2023.
Part of the reasons for that organizational change for KCHCH was to provide staff with better pay and benefits and for the hospice to have better purchasing power.
“One of the things that was happening was that their staff were not quite up to market rate with where things are in the healthcare field at this time. So throughout the last year, we’ve been able to increase their salaries for the staff members that were part of (KCHCH) up to market rate, which have annualized to an amount of about $68,000, with the bulk of those increases going into effect on Jan. 1 of this year,” she said.
For the first quarter of this year (January through March), Stillwater Hospice served 59 Kosciusko County residents and their families for a total of 2,747 days “where we walked alongside those patients and their loved ones as they face serious illness,” she said.
For each hospice patient they serve, Friedel said they raise about $7.50 for all of the additional services they provide that are not covered by reimbursement. In the first quarter of 2024, she said they allocated over $20,600 to support the Kosciusko County hospice patients and residents.
“Thanks to your gift, that is possible,” Friedel stated.
Stillwater Hospice has also provided grief counseling to those in the Kosciusko community. They’ve done 91 bereavement outreach support visits and provided individual grief counseling to one resident who had lost a partner to an accidental fentanyl overdose. They provided a local grief support group in January and February in Kosciusko County.
“For every grief session we provide, at no cost to any individual, it’s about $150. So I want to thank you again for your support," she concluded.
Councilwoman Kathleen Groninger said she’s been to a few funerals recently of people whose families had used the hospice’s services and she heard great things about Stillwater Hospice.
Councilman Tony Ciriello said the report provided from Stillwater met all the expectations and was very comprehensive in explaining how they spent the county’s money.
In other business, the County Council:
• Approved Sheriff Jim Smith’s request for a $37,535 additional appropriation for wages for a resource navigator position at the Kosciusko County Jail.
The K21 Health Foundation awarded the sheriff’s office a $154,500 grant to pay for the first two years of that position, with the understanding that the sheriff’s office would apply for another two years after the first 1-1/2 years of the position. K21 traditionally doesn’t award grants for more than two years at a time, Smith said.
In conjunction with that, the Council approved a salary ordinance amendment for the resource navigator at $50,954 annually.
• Approved KCSO Chief Deputy Chris McKeand’s request to apply for two federal grants, both to fund contractual services in the Kosciusko Community Recovery Program.
“Those services would be to bring in the peer recovery coaches, additional mental health, actually for the services for the inmates inside the jail,” he said.
The first grant is through the U.S. Department of Justice and is a 2024 Improving Adult and Youth Stabilization and Community Reentry Program grant for up to $825,000 over three years. McKeand said the due date for the grant application is April 30, and, if awarded, the grant start date would be Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2027.
The second grant is also through the U.S. Department of Justice and is a 2024 Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program grant, also known as Improving Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Outcomes for Adults and Reentry. Grant due date is May 13, 2024, with the same start dates as the prior grant. The maximum grant amount possible is $833,000 over three years. McKeand said it would be for the same services for the Community Outreach Program.
Both are reimburseable nationally competitive grants that don’t require any matching funds. The County Commissioners approved the request on Tuesday.
• Approved 13 additional appropriations into the county’s Health First Indiana project, as requested by Health Department Administrator Bob Weaver.
“We’re still putting the finishing touches on the budget, and these are finalized and ready and approved and we would like to start using them. This would all be from the Health First Indiana fund,” he said.
The council also approved a salary ordinance amendment for the prenatal care coordinator who is reaching a new anniversary level in her employment with the county, as requested by Weaver.
• Approved the two additional appropriations presented by Kosciusko County Highway Department Superintendent Steve Moriarty.
One is a $40,000 railroad crossing grant for advance warning pavement markings, which is a 100% reimburseable grant.
The other is a 50/50 Community Crossing matching grant, with part of that being $776,714 for work on bridge 320 off Armstrong Road and the other part being $781,750 for road reconstruction.
• Approved an additional appropriation for $360 from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, as requested by County Administrator Marsha McSherry. She said there was a typo on the original paperwork moving money from last year to this year so to correct that the appropriation is needed. That will close out the account for the grant given to the Kosciusko County Convention & Visitors Bureau for a digital sign.
• Approved a request for a $120,000 additional appropriation and a $32,000 transfer from Bob Momeyer, systems administration, for computer maintenance, hardware and software.
• Approved a request for a $20,300 additional appropriation from County Assessor Gail Chapman for group health insurance.
Chapman also presented a request for another vehicle for her office for property assessment work, which was approved. The commissioners approved the purchase Tuesday.
• Approved March encumbrancers totaling $1,286,350.44, as requested by County Auditor Rhonda Helser.
• Heard an annual report on the county’s tax increment financing districts from Councilwoman and Redevelopment Commission President Joni Truex. She also presented the report to the County Commissioners on Tuesday. The report is required to be presented to the council and commissioners before April 15.
• Heard a quarterly update on the Hoosier Enduring Legacy Program from Community Coordinator Amy Roe. She also presented the report to the County Commissioners on Tuesday.