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VNSNY to Open First Manhattan Hospice Residence
Visiting Nurse Service of New York is set to open Manhattan’s first hospice residence in January. It will be located on one floor of the Carnegie East enriched housing facility for senior citizens on Second Avenue between 95th and 96th Streets. Designed to accommodate up to eight people, the homelike residence will offer studio and two-bedroom apartments with private bathrooms, with housekeeping and meals provided by VNSNY Hospice Care.
A hospice residence can be an important alternative to nursing home care for patients near the end of life who cannot be maintained in their homes, because they live alone or because their caregiver cannot provide the level of support needed. Moreover, some patients may not have a home, or one that is safe.
“A hospice residence is a home and not a medical facility,” explains Beth Labush, MSN, RN, CHPN, the program’s manager. “The emphasis is on comfort and not on interventions aimed at a cure.” Ms. Labush came to VNSNY Hospice Care from a background of many years as a hospice home care nurse. In the hospice residence, a team of clinicians supports the emotional, spiritual, and physical needs of the patient and family, giving people choices as to how they want to live and then to die. Hospice also provides medication, supplies, and medical equipment related to the patient’s hospice diagnosis.
New York only recently approved the regulatory framework laying the groundwork for hospice residences to be built. In 1995, the state passed legislation authorizing residences, but it wasn’t until 2002 that the regulations to operate them were enacted. Last year, VNSNY began the process of establishing the residence and seeking community support for it. Although New York was late to the hospice residence idea, it will be the only state in which Medicaid will pay for care in a residence in addition to the regular hospice home care services.
The VNSNY hospice residence will be staff 24 hours a day by a nurse. Families may stay overnight or for meals, and there are no restrictions on visiting. Says Labush, even the hospital beds, which were ordered from Germany, are made of wood and do not look like hospital beds. She adds that the hospice residence will be welcomed especially by hospital discharge planners, who have long sought alternatives to nursing homes for patients who seek a less-medical environment near the end of life. Indeed, the hospice residence may become a model that paves the way to making this important service available to more New Yorkers.
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