MIAMI, Nov. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- VITAS Innovative Hospice Care(R), the nation’s leading provider of hospice care, announced the availability of four publications focusing on end-of-life issues. The VITAS-published texts, ranging from family-oriented guides to professional hospice textbooks, were each professionally published and peer-reviewed. The offerings include:
* The Surviving Spouse, by J. Richard Williams, MD, a guide for physicians, loved ones and friends in assessing the physical and emotional health of someone who has recently experienced the death of a long-time spouse. * The Jewish Hospice Manual, by Rabbi Maurice Lamm, DD, and Barry M. Kinzbrunner, MD, FACP, assisting hospice caregivers of all faiths in providing culturally sensitive and appropriate care to Jewish patients at the end of life and their families. * An Overview of Children’s Grief: Reaction to Loss and How Adults in their Lives Can Help / Teens’ Concepts of Death and Responses to Grief, two booklets written by VITAS bereavement experts to provide adults with tools and guidance to assist grieving children and teenagers. * 20 Common Problems in End-of-Life Care, compiled by Barry M. Kinzbrunner, MD, FACP, VITAS’ Chief Medical Officer. This is a collection of wisdom from physicians in a variety of specialties, as well as experts in the areas of bioethics and pastoral care, training and education, nursing, pharmacology, and performance management.
“Families, as well as healthcare professionals, need reliable resources to turn to for questions and comfort,” said Peggy Pettit, RN, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. “As November is National Hospice Month, we felt it was a fitting time to announce the availability of these important tools that truly benefit those struggling with end-of-life issues.”
The publications are available for purchase from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) Marketplace at http://www.nhpco.org/Marketplace. Portions of the proceeds from selected VITAS publications will benefit the VITAS Hospice Charitable Fund, http://www.vitascharityfund.org/, a foundation that supports improvements in medical education, funds promising clinical research, stimulates public policy discussion, and underwrites measures to advance the state of hospice care in America. The Foundation reaches beyond academia to the bedside, providing funding to meet the special needs of individual dying patients and their families.
About VITAS Innovative Hospice Care
VITAS Innovative Hospice Care(R), a pioneer and leader in the hospice movement since 1978, is the nation’s largest provider of end-of-life care. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, VITAS (pronounced VEE-tahs) operates 32 hospice programs in 11 states (Florida, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin). VITAS employs 6,887 professionals who care for terminally ill patients daily, primarily in the patients’ homes, but also in the company’s 21 hospice inpatient units as well as in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities/residential care facilities for the elderly. At the conclusion of the second quarter of 2004, VITAS reported an average daily census of 8,949.
VITAS Innovative Hospice Care
CONTACT: Mark B. Cohen Vice President, Communications & PublicRelations, VITAS Healthcare Corp., +1-305-350-5905, mark.cohen@vitas.com; orDeborah Adams Account Supervisor, of Hill & Knowlton, +1-202-944-1903,deborah.adams@hillandknowlton.com, for VITAS Healthcare Corp.