Angela Hospice has been given a $2.1-million grant to develop and implement a program to deploy telecommunication devices into patients’ homes, enabling hospice nurses to provide immediate face-to-face communication at any time of day or night.
Additionally, the funds from the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation will be used to build a Telehospice Triage Center at Angela Hospice in Livonia to house staff and equipment.
“We know this new program is going to have a positive impact and enable an even higher level of care for our patients and their families,” says Margot Parr, Angela Hospice president and CEO.
Parr believes the telehospice program will provide a powerful tool to ensure that the needs of patients are addressed in the most caring, timely, effective, and efficient manner possible, allowing for optimal pain and symptom management — a cornerstone of good hospice care. Similarly, this lifeline will benefit caregivers with an increased sense of comfort and reassurance, knowing they have immediate access to the support of their hospice team whenever they need it.
She says the new program will help propel Angela Hospice into the future of the industry.
“Given the hospice philosophy of care, most of us traditionally think of hospice as a low-tech, high touch model of care,” Parr says. “But this technology will give us one more tool to help with training, lessen anxiety for patients and families, and allow for rapid response to distressing symptoms that can arise at end of life.”
Trustees of The Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation announced this grant as part of over $17.4-million being donated to 20 organizations throughout southeast Michigan.
