UPDATE – July 2018: As a dedicated national partner of the We Honor Veterans Program, an awareness campaign developed by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) in collaboration with the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), Hospice of Southern Illinois’ Belleville Location celebrates the milestone of achieving We Honor Veterans’ Partner Level Four Status, the highest recognition of this program. Diane Voss, Hospice of Southern Illinois’ Regulatory Compliance Educator shares her excitement, “It’s an honor to be recognized as Level Four Status for our veteran-specific care, services, and community involvement. It’s a humbling experience serving those who have served our country. Ensuring the highest level of end-of-life care is provided, with dignity, respect, and compassion, to our nations’ heroes couldn’t make us more proud.” Read the full update here.
January 2018: As a dedicated national partner of the We Honor Veterans Program, an awareness campaign developed by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in collaboration with the Department of Veteran Affairs, Hospice of Southern Illinois’ Marion Location celebrates the milestone of achieving We Honor Veterans’ Partner Level Four Status, the highest recognition for this program. Vicki Griffin, Hospice of Southern Illinois’ Clinical Services Manager, shares her excitement, “Our team has learned so much and worked hard sharing this information in our communities to meet all the criteria to reach Level 4 in the We Honor Veterans Program. We are honored & humbled to serve those who have served our country.” Read the full update here.
Hospice of Southern Illinois’ We Honor Veterans Program
Hospice of Southern Illinois is proud to participate in the We Honor Veterans program. Conducted by the NHPCO in collaboration with the VA, We Honor Veterans is a national hospice awareness campaign whose mission is to create Hospice-Veteran Partnerships (HVP). HVPs are coalitions of VA facilities, hospices, and others working together to ensure the providing of excellent end-of-life care for the approximately 680,000 U.S. Veterans who pass away each year. Most Veterans are not enrolled in VA and may not know about end-of-life services and benefits available to them, including the Medicare Hospice Benefit and VA-paid hospice care. HVPs help Veterans obtain access to hospice and palliative care at the time of their need.
At Hospice of Southern Illinois, new patients are asked about their military service and, if they were in the military, more related information is gathered by the Hospice. This additional information will help determine what type of care for which the patient is eligible based on the date and length of their service. Also, Hospice of Southern Illinois works closely with the VA to expedite the end-of-life benefits to ensure that they are available to the patients and survivors as quickly as possible, sometimes shortening the process by up to one year.
