Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is a Volunteer Hospice?
2. How is Hospice of Morongo Basin organized?
3. If Hospice of Morongo Basin's services are all
provided free of charge, how does Hospice support itself?
4. What is the Hospice Medicare Benefit?
5. How does Hospice of Morongo Basin work with the
Medicare-certified hospices in the Morongo Basin?
6. How can I become a Hospice Volunteer?
7. How will I know if I am suited for being a
Hospice Volunteer?
8. Why should I come into the Hospice office?
9. Where else can I go to find out more?
10. How can I find out if I'm ready for Hospice?
11. What can my Hospice volunteer do for me and my
family?
Q1: What is a Volunteer Hospice?
A: A Volunteer Hospice specializes in the volunteer and
bereavement services that are core services of any hospice program. Volunteer hospices in
California are not required to be licensed as they provide no skilled nursing or other
services that the state deems must be licensed. Volunteer hospices are accountable to the
Attorney General. Skilled nursing and other services that require a license are provided by
state licensed and Medicare-certified agencies that are reimbursed for their services by
Medicare and private insurance. Frequently, volunteer hospices and Medicare-certified and
licensed hospices work together in partnership to provide the whole array of hospice
services. Hospice of Morongo Basin works in partnership with Hi-Desert Home Health and
Hospice and with the Visiting Nurse Association of the Inland Counties (Yucca Valley
branch).
Visit the websites of these Medicare-certified hospices:
Visiting Nurse Association of the Inland Counties
http://www.vna-ic.org
Hi-Desert Home Health and Hospice
http://www.hdmc.org
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Q2: How is Hospice of Morongo Basin organized?
A: Hospice of Morongo Basin is a community based,
independent, private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations to Hospice are
tax-deductible. Our Federal Employment Tax Identification number is 95-3759200. We are a
charitable nonprofit incorporated in the State of California, Corporation #1115199.
Incorporated in California as a public benefit corporation in 1982.
Our Board of Directors is made up of both professional and
nonprofessional residents of the community governs Hospice of Morongo Basin. Services are
delivered under the professional leadership of our paid staff.
As a Volunteer Hospice, Hospice of Morongo Basin provides no services for which the State of
California requires a license. We are accountable to the State Attorney General.
We have provided volunteer and bereavement services, free of charge, to patients and
families since 1983.
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Q3: If Hospice of Morongo Basin's services
are all provided free of charge, how does Hospice support itself?
A: Hospice of Morongo Basin depends upon the generous
support of local residents in the form of individual and group donations, memberships, and
memorials, and on private and government grants, bequests, and the income from our Thrift
Shop.
Our Thrift Shop depends upon the donated time of volunteers, donated items from the
community, and Thrift Shop shoppers.
Hospice receives grants from the Elsinore Machris Gilliland Fund (Hi-Desert Memorial
Hospital, Incorporated), The Auen Foundation, San Bernardino County, the Marine Corps
Officers Spouses Club, the Emblem Club of Yucca Valley, PFF Bank and Trust, the Morongo
Basin Old Car Club, Cactus Sewables, the Sportsman’s Club of Joshua Tree, the Sportettes,
and the Religious Affairs Office of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center.
Through the generosity of local resident Lee Bell, bequests from Margaret Harris and Helen
Olander Robertson, a matching grant from the Auen Foundation, and the efforts of the local
community, Hospice of Morongo Basin owns its own building free and clear.
See our Donations page on this website.
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Q4: What is the Hospice Medicare Benefit?
A:In 1983 the U.S. Congress added hospice care as a
covered benefit under Medicare. The states followed by adding the hospice benefit to
Medicaid programs (Medi-Cal in California).
Medicare pays 100% of the following services as they relate to the patient's terminal
disease.
The Hospice Medicare Benefit is provided by Medicare-certified hospices. The covered services
are:
- Professional management and coordination of care.
- Medications, medical equipment, and supplies.
- Physician services.
- Skilled Nursing
- On-call 24 hours a day/7 days a week.
- Social Workers
- Home Health Aides
- Physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.
- Respite Care
- Volunteers
- Spiritual counseling
- Bereavement counseling
To find out more, visit these websites:
National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization
http://www.nhcpo.org
California Hospice & Palliative Care Organization
http://www.chapca.org
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Q5: How does Hospice of Morongo Basin work
with the Medicare-certified hospices in the Morongo Basin??
A: Hospice of Morongo Basin is in partnership with all
Medicare-certified hospices that serve patients residing in the Morongo Basin. We are most
actively involved with the two hospices whose main offices are in the Morongo Basin.
The Visiting Nurse Association Hospice, tel: 760-365-4271
Hi-Desert Hospice Services, tel: 760-366-6427
Many people who have a life-limiting illness do not meet the criteria for hospice care under
Medicare or their private insurance coverage, but need support to cope with their illness.
Hospice of Morongo Basin can help patients not eligible or not yet ready for Medicare
hospice.
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Q6: How can I become a Hospice Volunteer?
- Volunteers must complete a comprehensive training program covering all aspects of
hospice care: the psychological, social, physical, and spiritual care and support of
dying patients, their caregivers and people working through grief.
- Volunteer Training classes are open to all, and carry no obligation to be a volunteer.
- Volunteers serve patients and families in their own communities, supported by regular
communications with the Patient Care Volunteer Coordinator.
- Hospice of Morongo Basin's Volunteer Coordinator and the Hospice Volunteers are members
of the Medicare-certified hospice's Interdisciplinary Team.
- Currently, we provide the volunteer component and the bereavement programs, in whole
or in part, for the Medicare-certified agencies that serve the Morongo Basin.
- Volunteers are very carefully recruited, trained by professionals, screened, supervised
and supported.
For more information on the volunteer's role and the required training, call our Volunteer
Coordinator Penny Morehead at 366-1308.
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Q7: How will I know if I am suited for
being a Hospice Volunteer?
A: Some of the Important Personal Qualities of Hospice
Volunteers:
- A desire to help and time to give
- Compassion and kindness
- A sense of humor
- A reverence for life
- A respect for differences and diversity
- Ability to listen
- A nonjudgmental attitude
- Commitment to learning and growing
- Willingness to ask for help
- Willingness to accept direction
- Commitment to Hospice philosophy
The Hospice Patient Care Volunteer is a member of the Hospice Interdisciplinary Team, which
includes also the physician, the nurse, the social worker, the home health aide, the family,
the clergy, etc.
Patient Care Volunteers must be willing and able to devote at least four hours per week.
You must have your own transportation and satisfactory auto liability insurance.
Benefits for the Volunteer:
- You become part of a very special group of people.
- You receive in-depth training and the full support of your supervisors and other team
members.
- You meet, and are genuinely helpful to many wonderful people.
- You learn about yourself, about life and death, living and dying.
Volunteer Training Schedule 2007:
| May 29 - June 12 |
Tuesdays and Wednesdays |
daytime |
9:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. |
| October 13 - 19 |
Wednesdays and Fridays |
daytime |
8:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. |
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Q8: Why should I come into the Hospice office?
- You can consult with our Patient/Family Care Volunteer Coordinator, Penny Morehead.
- You can pick up free copies of The Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care
forms and consult with our staff about end-of-life issues.
- You can pick up free laminated wallet cards, "The Grieving Person’s Bill of Rights."
Keep one with you and send others to family and friends, or to someone who is grieving.
It will help you and others understand the needs of the grieving person.
- Look through our wide selection of CareNotes and take some (they are free) for yourself
or someone you know.
- You can buy a copy of The 36-Hour Day: A Guide to Caring for Someone with Alzheimer's
Disease.
- You can pickup a free copy of Medicare's Guide to the Medicare Hospice Benefit.
- You can pickup a free copy of Hard Choices: CPR, Artificial Feeding, Comfort
Measures Only, and the Elderly Patient.
- You can look through a copy of our Volunteer Handbook. It will assure you of
the high quality of our services, and may interest you in becoming a hospice volunteer.
Come and see what makes Hospice so special . . .
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Q9: Where else can I go to find out more?
A: Hospice of Morongo Basin is here to help you. The
best way we can help is to encourage you to call us, at 366-1308, to explore and consult
with our staff on any issues, problems, or questions you may have. Please don’t hesitate
to pick up the phone. You’ll find a friendly voice at the other end!
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Q10: How can I find out if I'm ready for
Hospice?
A: Medicare-certified Hospices are allowed to provide a
few, limited non-hospice, or pre-hospice, services to help you explore in advance of the need
for hospice and what electing the Hospice Medicare Benefit entails. Call one of our
Medicare-certified partners to request a pre-hospice consultation. Or call Penny Morehead at
366-1308 for a pre-pre-hospice consultation.
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Q11: What can my Hospice volunteer do for
me and my family?
- Errands
- Grocery Shopping
- Pick Up Prescriptions
- Stay with the patient so the caregiver can go out.
- Be in the home so the caregiver can sleep.
- Read to you.
- Light Meal Preparation
- Walk the dog.
- Make telephone calls.
- Write letters.
- Listen
- Provides practical help and emotional support to terminally ill patients and their
families.
- Make regular home visits to offer friendship and diversion.
- Serves as a willing and sensitive listener.
- Facilitates communication between the patient, the patient's family, friends and other
caregivers.
- Provides respite for the caregiver.
- Assists the patient and family in preparing for death, and for funeral and after-death
arrangements.
- Provides information and makes referrals to other community resource and service agencies.
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