Friends of Hospice observe National Hospice Month

It is National Hospice Month, and the county’s own hospice advocacy group is celebrating. Friends of Hospice is a non-profit advocacy group in Whitman County with 12 board members.

It supplements the professional services of Family Home Care and Hospice based out of Spokane. Family Home Care offers professional, for-profit hospice care to Whitman County and Latah County clients. In addition to their staff, they have 36 volunteers.

Hospice serves those who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and have had a doctor certify that they likely have six months or less to live, if the disease runs its normal course.

Jon Davis with Friends of Hospice said the group is trying to spread its name. People should know the service exists, he said.

“The hospice program is there to make those last days as good as they can be,” Davis said.

Cost of hospice care gets billed to insurance for those who have it, Davis said, but the organization also has funds for those without insurance.

Family Home volunteers visit clients both at home and in nursing homes in both counties. Friends of Hospice only operates in Whitman County.

“Generally, the program is really built around helping people in their homes where they are most comfortable,” Davis said.

For example, Friends of Hospice could pay for massage therapy or organize a community grief support group.

Family Home Care and Hospice served 60 patients in Whitman County since the start of the year.

Friends of Hospice is passing out brochures on hospice care throughout the county. This December, they’ll hold a Tree of Lights fundraiser, in which donors have a decoration hung up on a Christmas tree in either Colfax or Pullman.