PRESS RELEASE: May 28, 2008 For Immediate Release

MEDIA CONTACT:
Beverly Crowl, Public Relations Specialist
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If passed, President Bush’s Fiscal Year 2009 Budget to Congress would slash Medicare reimbursement for hospice services by $2.29 billion, seriously impacting the ability of hospices to provide quality care to our most vulnerable population.

The logic of cutting support to hospices is perplexing when research, such as a recent Duke University study, shows that hospice saves Medicare more than $2,300 per patient with its focus on in-home care. Effectively, hospice saved Medicare $2.5 billion in 2006 considering that 1.3 million individuals received hospice care and 83% under the Medicare Hospice Benefit.

Hospice programs rely on Medicare for 80-85% of their revenues. Such a drastic cut in rates would undoubtedly jeopardize the future of many of those programs. Without hospices, the government would very likely end up spending more on healthcare. With hospices, Medicare costs would be reduced even as the quality of life for many would be improved.

Families who have journeyed through a loved one’s end-of-life experience with hospice support know with absolute certainty what a difference hospice care can make during this critical time.

Doug and Mara Shiflet of Magnolia, Delaware, can tell you. Doug was diagnosed with Dysautonomia, a rare neurological and cardiac disease which attacks the autonomic system, in which basically all your organs stop communicating. After nearly a year traveling from hospital to hospital, they were finally advised that the disease had progressed to the point that it was terminal. The only thing left to be done was to control Doug’s symptoms.

Doug said, “We needed help. We needed to prepare ourselves and our children, even as Mara was now forced to cope alone with routine family responsibilities while caring for me.”

“In April we called Delaware Hospice and they were here in two hours. Immediately they set up whatever equipment was needed for me to be comfortable in my home. Most importantly, our hospice nurse, Robin, cooperated with my cardiologist, Dr. Alberto Rosa, to manage my pain. This not only reduced the frequency of seizures, but allowed me to walk again.”

Mara said, “Doug was bedridden for six months before we called Delaware Hospice in May of 2007. Then, just before Father’s Day, he stood up and walked. It was a miracle, because we didn’t think he would walk again. All the kids were here for Father’s Day and I said, ‘Guess what Daddy can do?’ And he stood up and walked to the dinner table. It was quite a moment, and he was able to do this because hospice got his pain under control.”

Mara said, “Robin has been here whenever a problem has come up and has never made us feel like a burden. She has taught us things that no one else had about Doug’s disease. She taught us how to make it less painful for him and to help him maintain his dignity. Hospice is all about dignity and quality of life.”

“We’ve received support from the entire hospice team and everyone’s just been amazing, including Russ, our Chaplain, Kathy, our Social Worker, and Alneshia, our wonderful C.N.A., who comes in every day to help.

Bob, our Bereavement Counselor, has helped me grieve my loss with Doug at my side. I can’t tell you how special that is. If something bad had happened to me, I would want to talk to Doug about it. Now, although you’re never ready, I do feel more prepared.

Lezley, Delaware Hospice’s New Hope Coordinator, has helped to prepare our six children. Lezley talked to the kids alone, then talked to us and taught us how to communicate with them. Something like this can affect their lives negatively or positively. We wanted them to find hope in their faith, to understand that this is part of life.

Doug and I asked the kids, “What would you have preferred? That Doug just didn’t wake up in the morning, or that we had time to say ‘I love you’ every day. I think having this time and the ability to tell him that has been such a gift.”

The Shiflets didn’t expect Doug to make it to the end of the summer last year; but he did. The kids went back to school, he was doing okay, and he said his last wish was to go on a cruise. He wanted to take his kids on a cruise and to be there to see their faces when they first saw the ship and their rooms.

“We took all six kids and both sets of parents and went for Thanksgiving, Mara said. “The kids did things they had never done like swimming with sting rays. It was unforgettable.”

In the hospital, the kids were afraid of the wires and tubes and wary about getting close to Doug. Now, come over on any given weekend, and you’ll find at least three kids asleep in the bed on top of Doug. Mara explained, “Robin taught them not to be afraid, that they can touch him and he likes to have the kids wrapped around him.”

She added, “My 12-year old son just wrote a report for school about someone you admire, and he wrote about Doug. This proved to me that we’re doing something right. I know it’s hard for them, but we feel certain that they’ll find their way.

“Delaware Hospice is an amazing program and people don’t know enough about hospice. There are so many preconceived notions. My parents heard we had called hospice and in their minds they thought we were giving up. It’s most definitely not giving up; it means you’re choosing to live a quality life.

“Doug and I always say that faith is what you have between the miracles. And we’ve seen the miracles. We thought Doug would be gone a long time ago, but Delaware Hospice came in and gave us this precious gift of time and peace of mind. They’ve helped keep us focused on what’s important and put our whole life in perspective.”

Doug and Mara’s story is just one out of hundreds in Delaware and more than a million nationwide. You can help protect the Medicare Hospice Benefit to ensure quality end-of-life care is available for your loved one. Write to your Congressman today to voice your concern about the 2009 Proposed Budget Cuts for the Medicare Hospice Benefits. Learn more about pending legislation at www.delawarehospice.org.

About Delaware Hospice
Since 1982, Delaware Hospice has provided exceptional care and support to 30,000 patients and their families. Its mission is to help each patient, each day, live the fullest, most comfortable life possible. Delaware Hospice is the largest and only licensed, nonprofit, community-based hospice serving New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties in Delaware and southern Chester and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania. For more information about Delaware Hospice’s programs and services, upcoming events, or employment opportunities, call 800-838-9800.