Category Archives: Press Releases
Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice Named as Prestigious 2024 Hospice CAHPS Honors Award Recipient
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NEWTON – May 22, 2024 — Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice, a division of Quinlan Care Concepts has been named a 2024 Hospice CAHPS Honors Award recipient by HEALTHCAREfirst, a leading provider of CAHPS and bereavement survey programs for home health and hospice agencies. This prestigious annual review recognizes agencies that continuously go above and beyond in providing high-quality care for patients and compassionate caregiver experiences. It acknowledges the highest performing agencies by analyzing the performance of the Hospice Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey satisfaction and quality measures.
To be considered for this award, the hospice agency must have scored above the HEALTHCAREfirst National Performance Score on the Hospice CAHPS Willingness to Recommend question. Once that criteria is met, performance is evaluated utilizing a set of 23 additional quality indicator measures. These scores are then compared on a question-by question basis to a national performance score calculated from all partnering hospices contained in HEALTHCAREfirst’s Hospice CAHPS database. Special recognition, Honors Elite, is awarded to those hospices that score above the national performance score on 100%, or all twenty-four, of the evaluated questions.
“We began our Annual Hospice Honors Award program more than ten years ago as a way to highlight those agencies that are truly leading the way in providing and demonstrating quality patient care,” said Jeremy Crow, Head of RCM and CAHPS Survey, Home Health and Hospice.
“We congratulate Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice, New Jersey and Pennsylvania on this recognition and are so proud and honored that they have chosen to partner with us in helping drive success for their agency.”
Woody Hungarter, RN, BSN, MS, President credits the entire staff at Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice for this outstanding accomplishment. He said, “We are honored to be one of three Hospice Honors Elite recipients in Pennsylvania and one of two Hospice Honors recipients in New Jersey. To achieve “Elite and Honors” status validates the exemplary care extended to our community by our dedicated team.”
Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice a Division of Quinlan Care Concepts is an independent and local non-profit organization that provides a full continuum of high quality medical, emotional and spiritual services to individuals requiring hospice, their family members and the community. The organization serves families in Sussex, Warren and Pike County, PA. For more information on the services they provide, please contact us at 800-888-1117.
IDLM partners with Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice to train EOL Doulas
NEWTON – International Doula Life Movement (IDLM) founder Anna Adams and Executive Director Pamela Carter visited the Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice administrative office to begin the IDLM – Death/End of Life Doula Specialist Program training. IDLM has partnered with Quinlan Care Concepts – Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice to provide training KAQ Hospice Volunteers and Employees to be End-of-Life Doulas.
Doula, n. (dou; la);
A non-medical professional who provides support to another individual during a time of transition by providing education, information and resources; emotional and holistic care; and physical support.
“The doula movement is rapidly growing and for good reason. In times of transition or crisis, individuals and families need compassionate support to prepare emotionally for change. Well-trained doulas guide people to make the best choice for them,” said Anna Adams, founder of IDLM.
“The International Doula Life Movement offers international doulas — of all specialties — a values and mission-based education, resource center, and community committed to helping them support others,” said Adams.
A death doula is a person who helps support the dying or their loved ones through the end of life with non-medical support.
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“We are thrilled to have Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice joining us and look forward to being a part of the Quinlan Care Concepts Team,” said Pamela Carter, IDLM Executive Director.
The trainings, generously funded by the Karen Ann Quinlan Friends of Hospice, started on Friday, May 3. Two trainings, with 10 students each, are planned for 2024 and more trainings will be held in 2025 for volunteers, employees and those in the community who wish to participate in this specialized, 70+ hour certification course. This initiative is part of the strategic plan for Quinlan Care Concepts to offer complete end-of-life services to the community. Upon graduation ILDM certified EOL Doulas will available to help families in the communities that we serve.
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44th Anniversary – Quinlan Care Concepts
On our 44th Anniversary Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice is proud to announce the branding of our four divisions, Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice, Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice, the Joseph T. Quinlan Bereavement Center and Quinlan Palliative Care under the umbrella of Quinlan Care Concepts. Each division name remains the same. Quinlan Care Concepts more accurately reflects the spectrum of services we offer and our commitment to being end-of-life specialists in the communities that we serve. Our quality, compassion, and commitment to those we serve remains the same. Stay tuned for more updates from your local, not-for-profit, award-winning hospice since 1980!
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What is Palliative Care and how can it help?
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
DATE: March 4, 2023
What is Palliative Care and How Can it Help?
NEWTON — There’s an important medical term that you may not have heard of: Palliative Care (pronounced PAH-LEE-UH-TIVE). “Palliate” means to make comfortable by treating a person’s symptoms resulting from a serious illness. Hospice is just one form of palliative care that many Americans have heard of.
Both hospice and palliative care focus on helping a person be comfortable by addressing issues causing physical or emotional pain, or suffering. Hospice and other palliative care providers have teams of people working together to provide care. The goals of palliative care are to improve the quality of a seriously ill person’s life and to support that person and their family during and after treatment.
For more than forty years, Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice has been caring for people at the end of life while hospice nationwide has served more than 1.5 million patients and their family caregivers each year.
Palliative care is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness. This type of care is focused on providing relief from the symptoms and stress of the illness. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family.
Palliative care is provided by a specially-trained team of doctors, nurses and other specialists who work together with a patient’s other doctors to provide an extra layer of support. Palliative care is based on the needs of the patient, not on the patient’s prognosis. It is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness, and it can be provided along with curative treatment.
Hospice focuses on relieving symptoms and supporting patients with a life expectancy of months not years. Palliative care may be given at any time during a person’s illness, from diagnosis on and is appropriate for any stage of a serious illness.
If you or a family member would like to learn more about Quinlan Palliative Care, please call 973-888-9100 a FREE consultation. You may also visit our website at https://www.quinlanpalliativecare.org.
Click here for a printable fact sheet. Click here for a Spanish printable fact sheet.
Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice can help you understand more about palliative care and hospice and determine what might be best for you or your loved one. Contact them at 800-882-1117 or visit their website www.karenannquinlanhospice.org.
Karen Ann Quinlan Memorial Foundation is passionately dedicated to providing hospice care for the terminally ill, bereavement for those who have lost loved ones palliative care for those seeking an extra layer of care while seeking curative treatment.
Serving North and Northwest NJ and the Pike County area PA; please call 800-882-1117 to reach any of our services. For programs, events, and more information visit www.karenannquinlanhospice.org.
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Taking time to listen as a Caregiver
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The many tasks of caregiving can be so overwhelming that you just start doing things, maybe before you have really taken in what actually needs to be done. It is important to take the time to listen—to the person you are caring for, to the other people caring for them, and to yourself.
Listening to the Patient
You may be caring for someone who needs assistance with day-to-day chores and tasks but can still make their own decisions about personal matters such as medical care, financial and household issues. Take some time to listen and explore what kind of help they want. Often what we think someone wants or ought to want is not what they want at all. Sometimes people resist asking for help, even when it is clear they would benefit from assistance. If that is the case, start small and know that over time things will change as they learn to talk with their inner circle and realize what they want help with.
Knowing and understanding what someone wants will be important if you become responsible for making decisions for them. Read up on advance directives which will help you talk about medical decisions and fill out the documents. Not every situation can be anticipated so it is helpful to understand in general what is important to the patient—what they see as quality of life.
Listening to the doctors and other healthcare workers
You can offer to go to appointments with the patient and assist by taking notes and keeping track of papers, reports and prescriptions as you and the patient talk to the doctor. Take along the list of questions you generated together. Check with the patient during the appointment to be sure they are getting the information they want and need. Repeat back to the doctor any instructions to be sure they have been understood correctly.
Listen to yourself and reach out for information and support
Caregiving can be quite rewarding, and it can be quite challenging. Try not to have rigid expectations of how it will go or how you will feel. Showing up is good; perfection is the enemy. There are resources available to caregivers through government sponsored websites like MyHealthfinder as well as private organizations such as AARP and Caregiver Action Network.
Seek support groups of people caring for like patients; there are many online and in person. The National Institute of Aging, the CDC, the National Alliance on Caregiving, and AARP all are rich resources for help and connections. The American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and the Alzheimer’s Association as well as many other disease specific associations all have good information for caregivers.
2023 Lights of Life – Featured Stars
Click here for a complete 2023 Lights of Life Memorial Program Booklet.
Click on the image above to view the 2023 Lights of Life – Featured Stars.