Hospice:  It's about living.

Program Manager: Cheryl Harkin RN, MBA
Team Leader: Angie Rogers RN


Hospice is a concept of care providing comfort and support for people facing a life-limiting illness.  People who choose hospice are not "giving up."  Hospice neither hastens death nor prolongs life.  When a person's illness is not responding to curative treatment, hospice provides expert pain and symptom management, while enabling the patient and family to focus on the emotional and spiritual aspects of illness.  Our goal is to celebrate the lives of those we serve.




The Care Team
Partners Hospice's client and family-centered care is provided by an interdisciplinary team.  The patient's primary physician collaborates with our team of certified professionals, including:

  • Medical Director Dr. Carla Davis
  • Nurses-Missoula- Deborah Scott RN, Jill Edwards,RN, Susannah Ries, RN, Tammy Eggleston, RN, Jenora Haxton, RN-Polson-Amy McPhail, RN-Branch Charge Nurse, Jenaia McGreevey, RN, Randy Stillson, RN
  • Chaplain  Missoula-Rev. Dan Dixson -Polson -John Payne
  • Social Workers -Missoula: Christine Burkey MSW, Frances Stone MSW- Polson- Roxy Johnson
  • Pharmacist  Rose Macklin PharmD
  • Home Health Aides -Missoula: Dona Johnson-Gladys Miller-Sally Richardson- Polson- Pat Ashley
  • Volunteers Judy White-Volunteer Coordinator-Missoula-Polson-Toni Young
  • Homemakers 
  • Bereavement Counselors-Missoula-Gretchen Strohmaier MDiv, Dan Dixson, MDiv-Polson- Roxy Johnson

 

 

Together we design a personalized care plan to accommodate the changing conditions of patients and families.  In many cases, family members or loved ones are the hospice patient's primary caregivers. Our hospice team strives to create a relationship between caregivers and the hospice team.  We look to caregivers to advise hospice staff about how we can best serve our patients and their families. 


Our Services
  • Staff available 7 days a week, 24 hours a day
  • State-of-the-art pain and symptom management
  • Skilled counseling and emotional support
  • Spiritual care
  • Social work linking families to financial, legal, and community resources
  • Caregiver support from trained volunteers, including assistance with household tasks and errands
  • Community-wide bereavement services, including individual and group work
  • Individualized training enabling loved ones to assist in care
  • Educational programs on end-of-life issues and advanced directives


Pediatric Palliative Care
Partners Hospice is proud to introduce our Dragonfly Program for children living with life-limiting illnesses.  We have nurses and social workers trained in pediatric care.  Services include all of those offered to our adult hospice patients, but focused specifically on the needs of children and their families.




Eligibility for Hospice Services:

  • Patient has been diagnosed with an illness that limits life-expectancy to six months or fewer 
  • Patient is no longer seeking curative treatment, and desires pain and symptom management only 
  • Patient has a designated caregiver. Caregivers may include family members, friends, neighbors, or nursing homes/assisted living facilities

Possible Hospice Diagnoses Include:

  • Cancer
  • End-Stage Heart Disease
  • End-Stage Kidney or Liver Disease
  • ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease)
  • Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
  • AIDS
  • End-Stage Dementia
  • Debility Unspecified
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Parkinson's Disease
  • Huntington's Chorea
  • Congestive Heart Failure

We Serve
Western Montanans with life-limiting illnesses, at home or at home-like settings, including nursing homes and assisted-living facilities.  Geographic coverage includes Missoula, Ravalli, Mineral, Lake  and Sanders counties.

Service Coverage
Financial coverage is available through the following:

  • Medicare
  • Medicaid
  • Private Insurance
  • Flexible Payment Plans
  • Private Insurance
  • Sliding Scale
  • Charity Care 

Partners Hospice is a non-profit organization, and our ability to provide service depends partially on the generous support of individual and community donations.  Your donation will allow us to continue to provide service to all individuals regardless of ability to pay. 

Consultations 7 days a week
(406) 728-8848

 

Links:
hospice poetry
http://www.nhpco.org
http://www.nationalhospicefoundation.org