Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Kosciusko Home Care and Hospice recently received a $50,000 grant from the K21 Foundation.
The grant will help expand the admission criteria for Hospice patients to include those patients receiving treatments such as blood administration, palliative chemotherapy and palliative treatments, according to Julie Bowers of Home Care and Hospice.
According to K21 Foundation director Willis Alt, K21 offers a minimum of $500,000 in grants annually to organizations in Kosciusko County with initiatives focusing on the health and wellness of Kosciusko County citizens.
Deadlines for taking grant proposals are Feb. 1 and Aug. 1 and a committee of 17 county citizens decides what to do with the money based on the grant presentations they hear.
Alt said palliative treatment provides dying patients relief from their symptoms, makes patients more comfortable and helps them resist some of their symptoms.
Hospice provides the professional and support services to improve the quality of life of patients and their families who are facing a terminal illness, said Bowers in a news release.
Alt said for a patient to be eligible for palliative treatment, a doctor must certify the patient will not live more than six months.
According to Alt, with the grant, Hospice also will be able to increase services and the number of people receiving palliative treatments. Hospice will be able to enroll patients at an earlier stage in their dying process.
Services provided by Hospice, Bowers said, are visits by registered nurses, home health aides, medical social workers, pastoral counselors, trained volunteer companions and homemakers.
According to Bowers, examples of whom this grant will benefit are bone cancer patients, who receive palliative radiation for pain decrease, and leukemia patients, who require frequent blood transfusions to decrease shortness of breath.
For more information about Home Care and Hospice services, call 372-3401.
