Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

DATE: November 11, 2013
CONTACT: Roxanne Debski-Seigel
Karen Ann Quinlan Memorial Foundation
Offices in Newton NJ & Milford PA.
PHONE: 973-383-0115
TOLL FREE: 800-882-1117
FAX: 973-383-6889
EMAIL: rdebski-seigel@karenannquinlanhospice.org
WEBSITE: www.karenannquinlanhospice.org

PHOTO: Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice has been serving hospice patients in the community since it opened its doors in 1980. The administrative building located at 99 Sparta Ave, Newton is office to nurses, home health aides, and general administration who service patients in Northwest NJ.  The Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice also has an office in Milford PA, where nursing staff serve patients in the Pike and Wayne areas of PA.

PHOTO: Julia Quinlan, co-founder and President of the Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice has been a crusader for the hospice cause since 1980 when she and her husband Joseph founded the hospice that bears the name of their daughter Karen Ann. Karen Ann’s legacy became a world-wide commitment for the right to die with dignity cause after she fell into a coma in 1975.  Karen Ann lived another ten years after being removed off the respirator and died in 1985.  The Quinlans saw firsthand a must for patients who needed pain free comfort and the best quality of life possible while they were in a condition where end of life was imminent with little or no hope of recovery. The also saw that the families of the loved ones who were ill needed the guidance and support of a model of care that incorporated all of the above.  That model of care was hospice.

November is National Hospice Month

At the End of Life Hospice Provides What Americans Want.

The hospice philosophy holds that end-of-life care should emphasize quality of life. The object is to treat both the patient and family with a model of care that provides palliative (pain relief) plans and remedies, doctors, nurses and home health aides in addition to social workers, trained volunteers, spiritual guidance, therapists, and bereavement.

A nationwide Gallup survey conducted for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization produced five key outcomes:

1. Nine out of 10 adults would prefer to be cared for at home rather than in a hospital or nursing home if diagnosed with a terminal illness. Hospice does provide the option of being cared for at a place the patient calls home: 96% of hospice care is provided in the patient’s home or place they call home.
2. An overwhelming majority of adults said they would be interested in the comprehensive program of care at home that hospice programs provide. Yet most Americans know little or nothing about their eligibility for or availability of hospice.
3. When asked to name their greatest fear associated with death, respondents most cited “being a burden to family and friends,” followed by “pain” and “lack of control.” Addressing the whole range of physical and psychological needs of the patient and his or her family in an interdisciplinary way is what makes hospice care so special.
4. 90% of adults believe it is the family’s responsibility to care for the dying. Hospice provides families with the support needed to keep their loved one at home, and can take over fully to give the caretaker short “respite” periods.
5. Most adults believe it would take a year or more to adjust to the death of a loved one. However, only 10% of adults have ever participated in a bereavement program or grief counseling following the death of a loved one. Hospice programs offer one year of grief counseling for the surviving family and friends.

For additional information on this study and further information about the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization visit NHPCO.org.

In March of this year the Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice broke ground on the Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice which when completed in 2014, will offer hospice patients and their families additional opportunities to provide for their loved one. The 10 patient room facility being built in Fredon is designed to offer end of life patients a home with a family friendly atmosphere, but with all the trained personnel to assure that patients and families receive the hospice care model.

The Karen Ann Quinlan Memorial Foundation is passionately dedicated to providing Hospice care for the terminally ill and Bereavement for those who have lost loved ones. Serving Northwest NJ and Northeast PA; please call 800-882-1117 to reach any of our services. Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice, 99 Sparta Ave., Newton, NJ and Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice, 104 Bennett Ave., Milford, PA. Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice is an independently owned hospice program and the preferred hospice provider for the Atlantic Health Care System in our area of service. For programs, events, and more information visit www.karenannquinlanhospice.org

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