Nathan Adelson Hospice Receives Nearly $600,000 Donation from The Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation
Carole Fisher, president and CEO of Nathan Adelson Hospice, announced that the Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation provided a $570,000 grant to help fund the Nathan Adelson Hospice, Elaine Wynn Palliative Care Program.
The goal of the Elaine Wynn Palliative Care Program (EWPCP) is to improve the quality of life for patients and their family members facing debilitating physical, emotional, and social issues associated with an advanced illness. This program provides a unique and innovative interdisciplinary approach to care coordination across settings. As the expert in hospice and palliative medicine in Southern Nevada since 1978, Nathan Adelson Hospice is the best organization equipped to address such an important matter in our community.
“We are very grateful for the Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation’s generosity. The donation will help to improve the quality of life for patients and their families,” Fisher said. “Contributions like this help thousands of community members in a variety of ways.”
Palliative care is a rapidly growing medical specialty aimed at improving quality of life for people with serious illness and their families. Although palliative care is associated with better quality of care and lower costs, access to it is currently limited mostly to hospitals and, for those who are dying soon, hospice. Making palliative care available to the larger population of the seriously ill who are receiving care in the community settings where they live, is the single largest opportunity to improve value in the U.S. health care system. Patients and families coping with serious illness want and need access to the quality of life that palliative care provides. This donation will decrease unnecessary suffering and improve the quality of life for our community’s most fragile by providing:
- Expert management of pain and other symptoms
- Guidance for patients and their families in developing a personal, patient-centered plan of care based on true understanding of disease management and progression, treatment choices, and the right to advocate one’s personal interpretation of quality of life
- Coordination of care with health care providers, insurance companies and other community resources
- Emotional support and clinical guidance for patients and families
- Opportunities for families to better understand decision-making challenges and communicate their choices to their loved ones before a healthcare crisis
- Team-based planning
- Assist with transition to hospice care when the patient’s prognosis is limited and life expectancy is less than 6 months
Nathan Adelson Hospice has designed special programs and services for patients and their families to ensure their needs are met, many of which are supported by donations and grants:
- Complementary therapies that include symptom-relieving creams, aromatherapy, pet therapy, massage, Reiki, and art therapy.
- Camp Erin is an annual bereavement camp for children who have lost a loved one.
- The Meal Delivery Program delivers meals to homecare patients and their caregivers through a partnership with Three Square, the Southern Nevada Food Bank.
- The Nathan Adelson Hospice Transportation Program ensures patients and families timely transportation.
- The Families in Need Program helps patients and families who need support with everyday necessities, ranging from household supplies to assistance with utility bills to obtaining non-perishable food items.
- Pet Peace of Mind is a program that utilizes volunteers to help patients and/or caregivers with their pets by providing transportation to veterinary and grooming appointments.
- The Hispanic/Latino Program strives to provide the most culturally competent care to Latino patients and their families by ensuring properly trained interpreters, bilingual staff and volunteers, materials that are transcreated for Latino populations, Spanish grief support groups and community partnerships to increase access to hospice care to a traditionally underserved population.
- The “We Honor Veterans” program strives to ensure the special needs of veterans are met through respectful inquiry, compassionate listening, and grateful acknowledgment.
- Comprehensive pediatric program for ages of newborn-18.
- The Jewish Hospice accreditation provides resources to better serve Jewish patients who are terminally ill.
Nathan Adelson Hospice, the trusted partner in hospice care and palliative medicine for nearly 40 years, is the largest non-profit hospice in Southern Nevada, caring for an average of 400 hospice and palliative care patients daily. In 1978, Nathan Adelson Hospice began providing home care hospice service in Southern Nevada with the mission to offer patients and their loved ones with comprehensive end-of-life care and influence better care for all in the community. In 1983, Nathan Adelson Hospice opened an in-patient hospice in Las Vegas, and today the hospice is recognized as a national model for superior hospice care. The mission of the hospice is to be the Hospice of Choice, the Employer of Preference and a Training Center of Excellence for comprehensive end of life care. Its vision is simple: no one should end the journey of life alone, afraid or in pain.