The Promises

Comfort, support and peace of mind to individuals and families coping with end-stage illnesses are the promises of hospice. At Rainbow Hospice Care, we seek to assist individuals in the communities we serve to find meaning in the dying process by providing hospice care not just for the end of life but for all of life. Rainbow Hospice Care (RHC) embodies this mission by bringing compassionate, professional care to individuals experiencing a terminal illness, acute pain or suffering.

In 1990, Helen Stowe and seven other people began visiting other hospices in Wisconsin with the hope of forming an all-volunteer hospice in Jefferson. As a volunteer and Helen returned from one such visit, they observed a rainbow in the sky—which led to our Rainbow Hospice Care name. Because of Helen’s dedication, our Volunteer of the Year Award is now named in her honor.

Today, Rainbow Hospice Care provides service to patients in Jefferson and surrounding counties with a life expectancy of 12 months or less. The demand for hospice care remains great as indicated by our 2008 average daily census of 57.4 patients, a figure that has nearly doubled in the past year alone.

As a non-profit organization certified for Medicare and Medicaid, RHC recognizes the need for a hospice that is community-based and independent, providing quality end-of-life care regardless of a person’s ability to pay, age, diagnosis, disability, race, religion or gender. RHC conducts ongoing fundraising to provide care for patients without public or private insurance benefits.

The Present

Rainbow Hospice believes that each person has a right to live life to the fullest, with joy and dignity. Each new day blesses us with many choices. That is as true for the person with a terminal illness as for any other individual. Our priority is to present and explain all care, allowing each patient to make his or her own decisions and choices that:

• enhance the quality of life

• assure physical well-being through pain and symptom control

• address both the patient’s and family’s emotional and spiritual needs

The goal of hospice care is not to prolong or shorten life, but to ensure patients live a life of quality. RHC focuses on providing quality of life and compassionate care for terminally ill patients, as well as support for the needs of caregivers. Interdisciplinary team members provide a total attentiveness to the needs of the patient and family members. Hospice provides the family emotional support by arranging for short-term respite if they are burdened by commitments at home or simply need to take some time for themselves.

President/CEO Karen Carrig oversees an RHC staff of 39 full-time and part-time employees, who embrace the philosophy of teaching families how to care for their loved ones in addition to “doing” for the patient. Services offered include bereavement, dietary, homemaker, hospice aide, medical, nursing, occupational therapy, patient/family companion, physical therapy, social services, speech pathology, and spiritual and other counseling. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Tomorrow’s Hope and United Way help fund RHC’s Faith in Action Program to promote congregation-based volunteer programs. Last year, 70 volunteers helped Rainbow Hospice serve patients.

In 2007, an estimated 1.4 million patients received services from hospice programs in the United States. This figure includes 930,000 who died under hospice care, 258,000 who remained on the hospice census at year-end, and 222,000 who were discharged alive for reasons including extended prognosis, desire for curative treatment and other causes. As the American population ages and hospice care becomes even more established, it is expected that many more people will turn to hospice for end-of-life care and comfort.

Locally, Rainbow Hospice cared for 342 patients and their families from its six-county service area in 2008, providing 20,349 days of care.  53.9% of these people were cared for at home, 18.7% in assisted living facilities, 13.9% in nursing homes and 13.6% in hospitals.  In terms of diagnoses, 44.4% had cancer while the rest were experiencing such things as heart disease, debility unspecified, dementia/Alzheimer's, lung disease, stroke or coma, kidney disease, motor neuron diseases, liver disease, etc.

Jefferson County and surrounding area residents have become very sophisticated in understanding their options for end-of-life care as evidenced by the fact that 19.1% percent of RHC’s referrals came directly from patients, family members, friends and neighbors in 2008. Physicians accounted for 38.3% of our referrals, hospitals 22.1%, assisted living facilities 9.2%, nursing homes 5.9% and home health agencies 3.8%. Rainbow Hospice patients are slightly older than the national average.  Last year, 83.6% of our patients were 65 or older, compared to 81.7% nationally.