CAPITAL HOSPICE

Capital Caring is one of the first and largest nonprofit hospice and palliative care organizations in the United States and has provided care to more than 116,000 patients since 1977, in its service area of Northern Virginia (south to Richmond), the District of Columbia, and Prince George's County, Maryland -- regardless of ability to pay or severity of illness -- as well as bereavement counseling for those families, and grief counseling for the community at large.

On any one day, its expert staff of health professionals -- including physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, certified nursing assistants, social workers, chaplains, bereavement counselors, and trained volunteers -- care for more than 1,200 people living with advanced illness and their families.

Capital Caring's core services include the following:

Hospice: A Capital Caring team, led by an experienced physician and nurse, focuses on the patient's preferences and provides pain and symptom management wherever the patient calls home -- in a private home, assisted living facility, nursing home, inpatient facility, or hospital. This care includes medical, emotional, spiritual and practical support as well as grief and loss counseling. Capital Caring has the region's largest concentration of professionals board-certified by the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, including doctors and nurses nationally and internationally respected as leaders in the field of hospice/palliative care.

Palliative Care: Capital Caring physicians provide pain/symptom management for seriously ill patients who are not yet eligible for hospice care or who do not want hospice care. They visit patients in their homes, consult at hospitals and clinics, and can coordinate with the patient's own primary care doctor.

Patient Care Fund: Capital Caring provides the same level of expert care regardless of an individual's ability to pay or the severity of their illness. Last year, Capital Caring provided $3.2 million in charity care throughout the service area.

Point of Hope (POH) Counseling: Capital Caring POH counselors provide bereavement counseling for up to 13 months after the death of a loved one in hospice care and also provide community counseling programs for a variety of grief and loss experiences, including summer day camps for children, teens, and adults.

Inpatient Care: The Halquist Memorial Inpatient Center in Arlington, VA provides 24-hour care, with the comforts of home and the medical support of a hospital, for hospice patients whose pain and other symptoms require management not possible at home. In September 2014, we opened a second inpatient center -- the Adler Center for Caring, located in Loudoun County, VA -- to serve patients and families in the western portion of our service area. In 2016 we opened a 7-bed inpatient center in Greenbelt, MD and a 14-bed center at Providence Hospital in DC, thus ensuring inpatient care is available close-to-home for all Capital Caring patients and families.

We Honor Veterans: Capital Caring makes extra efforts to honor service men and women in our care . Capital Caring participates in the We Honors Veterans Program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in a partnership with the American Veterans Center, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, to honor those in our care who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States. Activities include Capital Caring volunteer veterans conducting pinning ceremonies with hospice patients who are also veterans, in recognition and appreciation of their service.

Center for Outcomes, Research and Education: The Center promotes and improves hospice/palliative care through research and professional education of Capital Caring staff, healthcare professionals and the healthcare community at-large.