DAYTON, Ohio, June 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — VITAS Innovative Hospice Care(R), the nation’s largest hospice provider, has opened a new inpatient hospice unit in Dayton to serve patients and families in the greater Dayton and Miami Valley area. The 12-bed inpatient unit at 1 Elizabeth Place has the potential for future expansion.
General Manager Joe Killian says, “VITAS is now a part of Dayton’s continuing revitalization. We spent a million dollars building out the unit, which has a comforting, homelike atmosphere. We are very excited to better serve our patients in the Dayton area.”
In addition to providing the Dayton community with skilled hospice and palliative care, the VITAS inpatient hospice unit will create 20 local jobs for nurses and healthcare workers, raising the number of Dayton-area people employed by VITAS to nearly 100.
Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin attended the ribbon cutting ceremony along with several hundred guests, including community members and health care representatives. VITAS Chief Nursing Officer, Patient Care Administrator Kate Little explains, “We consistently meet the hospice needs of the underserved and approach everything we do with a patients-and-families-come-first outlook. We look forward to providing compassionate care in a comfortable setting to patients and families in the Dayton area.”
About Hospice
Because hospice is not a “place” as many believe, VITAS caregivers make visits throughout the community to care for patients in their own home, in nursing homes, and in assisted living communities. Hospice is provided in the home to better provide comfort, pain control and symptom management for a patient at the end of life. In fact, recent research published by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization found that most Americans would prefer to receive end-of-life care at home and think hospice professionals are the most knowledgeable in helping them do so.
About VITAS Innovative Hospice Care(R)
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 43 hospice programs in 16 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, 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 a nurse, today employs 8,640 professionals who care for terminally ill patients daily, primarily in the patients’ homes, but also in the company’s 27 inpatient hospice units as well as in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living communities/residential care facilities for the elderly. At the conclusion of the first quarter of 2007, VITAS reported an average daily census of 11,309; VITAS served more than 63,000 patients throughout all of 2006. 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: Mark B. Cohen, Vice President, Communications & PublicRelations, of VITAS Healthcare Corp., +1-305-350-5905, [email protected];or Kathie Boettrich, Senior Vice President, of Hill & Knowlton,+1-202-944-5150, [email protected], for VITAS InnovativeHospice Care
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