DARBY, Pa. and PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ — Mercy Health Hospice, a part of Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, Pennsylvania, and Mercy Health System, has been acquired by VITAS Innovative Hospice Care(R), the nation’s leading and largest hospice provider, serving more than 10,250 patients each day from 39 offices in 15 states.
As part of the merger, Mercy Health Hospice will operate within VITAS’ existing Philadelphia program and will be known as VITAS Innovative Hospice Care(R) at Mercy.
Mercy Health Hospice Director, Cathy Franklin, R.N., C.P.H.N., will now run the VITAS interdisciplinary hospice team serving Delaware County.
No layoffs are expected as a result of the merger. Terms of the transaction were not released by either party.
“We are pleased to expand our partnership with VITAS Innovative Hospice Care through this transaction. VITAS is the nation’s leading provider of high quality end of life care services, and we trust they will serve our community with distinction. We are proud of our association with VITAS, and look forward to their continued success in meeting the needs of patients and families,” said H. Ray Welch Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Mercy Health System.
“As a vital part of VITAS, Mercy will be able to meet the expanding needs for end-of-life care in the communities it has traditionally served while continuing to grow throughout Delaware County,” said Rosemary Baughn, RN, Senior General Manager of VITAS Innovative Hospice Care of Philadelphia.
Welch noted that, “We at Mercy know VITAS — they’ve been an active partner at two of our facilities in Philadelphia, Nazareth Hospital and St. Agnes Continuing Care Center, for more than 10 years. VITAS operates inpatient hospice units in both facilities and operates those units consistent with the ethical and religious directives for Catholic Health Care Services,” Welch said.
Mercy Health Hospice has served the Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital community for nearly 25 years. The outpatient hospice program became Medicare certified in 1995 and has been an integral part of Mercy’s healthcare community as a dedicated provider of end of life care services. The program is widely recognized for its skilled clinical management and the compassionate care provided by its long tenured team of healthcare professionals.
The origin of VITAS dates back to 1976 in Miami, Florida, when Hugh A. Westbrook, an ordained United Methodist Minister, and Esther T. Colliflower, a registered nurse, saw a void in the treatment of people with terminal illnesses. While affiliated with the local community college, they organized a group of volunteers who also were interested in pursuing betters ways to care for the dying. The group began caring for patients who were willing to be part of a reciprocal agreement: If “the group” would help them to remain comfortably at home until they died, the patients would teach “the group” how to care for them. From caring for its first patient in 1978 VITAS now cares for approximately 55,000 patients each year.
“Delaware County has been a fortunate beneficiary of high quality end-of- life services through Mercy Hospice. That standard of excellence will continue through this partnership,” Baughn said. “VITAS is the largest and one of the nation’s oldest providers of end-of-life care. Mercy Hospice is now part of a family of more than 8,100 hospice advocates who provide care each day to more than 10,250 patients and families in 15 states.”
“VITAS has helped change the face of hospice,” Baughn added. “We were part of the grassroots effort that, in 1982, made hospice care accessible through the Medicare Hospice benefit. We expanded hospice care to include patients with congestive heart failure, lung disease, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other non-cancer diagnoses. We were among the first to make hospice care available to patients in nursing homes and, later, in assisted living communities.”
The name VITAS (pronounced VEE-tahs) is derived from the Latin word for lives. The name symbolizes the VITAS mission: To preserve the quality of life for those who have a limited time to live. From its founding as an all- volunteer hospice in 1978, VITAS has been guided by four VITAS Values:
* Patients and families come first. * We take care of each other. * I'll do my best today and do even better tomorrow. * I am proud to make a difference.
If a family member or friend might benefit from that kind of approach to end-of-life care, call 1-800-664-6334. A VITAS admissions representative can answer your questions and find out more about your family’s concerns.
VITAS Innovative Hospice Care(R), a pioneer and leader in the hospice movement since 1978, is the nation’s largest provider of end-of-life care. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, VITAS operates 39 hospice programs in 15 states (Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin). VITAS, which has evolved from its founding as a volunteer organization by a United Methodist Minister and an oncology nurse, today employs 8,106 professionals who care for terminally ill patients daily, primarily in the patients’ homes, but also in the company’s 23 inpatient hospice units as well as in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities/residential care facilities for the elderly. At the conclusion of the third quarter of 2005, VITAS reported an average daily census of 10,259; VITAS served nearly 55,000 patients throughout all of 2004. The name, VITAS (pronounced VEE-tahs), is derived from the Latin word for lives. It symbolizes the VITAS mission: To preserve the quality of life for those who have a limited time to live.
VITAS Innovative Hospice Care
CONTACT: Rosemary Baughn, General Manager of VITAS Innovative HospiceCare(R) of Philadelphia, +1-610-260-6020; or Mark B. Cohen, Vice President ofCorporate Communications and Public Relations of VITAS Healthcare Corporation,+1-305-350-5905
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