BackVITAS: The Hospice that Began under a Banyan Tree
Article submitted by Tamara DeCaro of VITAS Innovative Hospice Care® of Collier County. They can be reached at 866-928-4827 or www.vitas.com
The sign nailed to the banyan tree said "Hospice Advocates: Meet Here." The year was 1977. Most people didn't even know what hospice meant. But at that South Florida conference on caring for the dying, they did. They met under that banyan tree and started a process that would change the way Americans look at death and dying.
Esther Colliflower and Hugh Westbrook were two of the group under the banyan tree. Esther was an RN who had raised eight children and re-entered the work force in the early 1970s as a professor at what was then called Miami-Dade Community College. Hugh, a Methodist minister and community activist, taught at the same college.
Esther and Hugh believed that terminal illness shouldn't be the end of the discussion; it should be the beginning. Together, they started Hospice of Miami, a small company that would grow to become VITAS Innovative Hospice Care®, one of the largest hospice providers in the nation.
Their first patient showed them how to care for the terminally ill. "Emmy Philhour had annoyed her doctor enough that I think he was happy to refer her to us," Hugh has said. "This pesky, opinionated woman who didn't want any more chemotherapy and these pesky hospice people who were looking for their first patient made a perfect team. Emmy was a brave, wonderful woman who essentially taught us the team approach of care that we, as VITAS, use today."
From its humble beginnings in 1978, VITAS influenced the way U.S. healthcare addresses death and dying. VITAS founders helped pass the Hospice Care Reimbursement Act in 1982 that made hospice a Medicare benefit. Since then, 10 million Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance beneficiaries - and people with no medical insurance at all - have received hospice care at no cost to the beneficiary or family.
Phillipa "Pippa" Steinhart, RN, general manager of VITAS' newest program in Collier County, first joined VITAS in 1991. She has experienced the progress the company has made and the changes in public perception of end-of-life care.
"Studies show that 90 percent of patients faced with life-threatening illness prefer to remain in their homes, continuing the routines that make them most comfortable," she says. "Whether they live in their family home, an adult living community or a nursing home, they want to age - and die - in place.
"Helping patients remain at home is part of VITAS' very foundation," she adds. "Even when a patient's symptoms worsen or become difficult to control, VITAS provides Intensive Comfort CareSM - a service that puts a trained clinician at the bedside up to 24 hours a day. It means a hospice patient doesn't have to choose between the comforts of home and the round-the-clock care of hospitalization."
Every day, VITAS cares for nearly 12,000 patients and their families throughout the country. In Florida, VITAS also has programs in Central Florida and in Volusia, Flagler, Brevard, Broward, Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. It also provides its services through 36 other programs in 15 states and Washington, D.C.
Despite the company's growth, Pippa says it's amazing how many things haven't changed. "We're so much larger now, but VITAS still feels like a family. Esther and Hugh wanted people to enjoy coming to work. That approach has withstood the test of time."