President Kristin called the meeting to order at Palmera Inn and Suites
Kevin Courtney offered the prayer and led the pledge to the flag
Announcements:
Run with Bernie - register with Suzi Oliver to be on the team - keep track of your miles. Walk, run, swim, cycle, row!!! Get pledges to raise money for Polio Plus.
Suzi Oliver, Sergeant at Arms, collected Happy $$
Speaker
Speaker this morning was Virginia Henneberry, Director of Development for Friends of Caroline Hospice - Caroline's Cottage.
It is the oldest hospice in the state and was founded in 1977. It was founded and named for its first patient, a 31 year old woman with breast cancer who wanted to spend her last days at home. Her friends, to honor her wishes, provided companionship and medical care for her founding Friends of Caroline Hospice. The mission of the organization is to provide "quality of life care that offers hope and encouragement to those nearing the end of life's journey and support for their family, friends and the community" . The services that are offered are: palliative care; hospice care; grief support; and starting in the summer of 2022, Inpatient care. They offer care for patients regardless of their ability to pay and follow the family for 13 months after the patient passes. They have support groups which are open to the public at large. Student bereavement is something else that they handle, help facilitate their grief and have a once a year camp - Camp Caroline for which there is no charge.
New line of service coming this summer is Carolines Cottage which is the areas first inpatient hospice house.
Caroline's Cottage will open as an 8 bed inpatient facility and will offer 4 levels of care: residential; transitional- like coming from a facility while preparing the home; Acute - currently in home setting; Respite - can be transported to cottage for 3 - 5 days to give care giver a break, it costs $300-$500 a day for respite care elsewhere. Two things it will not have are: set visiting hours and age restrictions. The cottage does not replace current services but is an extension of them. There is no charge for services, and FOC has two fundraisers: a BBQ and a Butterfly release ($10 /butterfly). They are in the home stretch and are at 90% of their $5 million goal (started 35 months ago). 98% have been donated by individuals and have received two grants. The 20,000 sq ft facility will open this summer. For more information, visit fochospice.org