Butte Home Health & Hospice is one of eight community organizations participating in "Friends of Hospice", a pilot communication program to raise awareness and understanding of hospice as well as to encourage people to complete advance directives. Letters about the campaign are just beginning to arrive at nearly 3,000 homes in Tehama, Butte and Glenn counties. Those who receive the letters are being asked to spread the word about hospice to their network of friends and loved ones via e-mail or postcard.

Hospice is a form of health care provided to people who are confronting a serious illness when cure is no longer a reasonable goal. Nationally, only about a third of those eligible for hospice care end up receiving it. In our area, more than half of those who receive hospice care are in a program for a short period – just 18 days in 2005.

The coalition sponsoring the Friends of Hospice pilot program includes: American Cancer Society; Butte Home Health and Hospice; Butte-Glenn Medical Society; California State University, Chico, School of Nursing; Chico Area Interfaith Council; Enloe Medical Center Hospice; Paradise Hospice; and Passages Adult Resource Center.

By sending postcards or emails to friends, those who have been touched by hospice as a family member, volunteer, or donor can support Friends of Hospice by offering to share their hospice experience, should their friends ever want to know more. They will also encourage people to talk to their families about their wishes in the event of a serious illness.

In addition to the letter, Friends of Hospice is offering free informational materials about advance care planning and hospice on its website (www.hospicefoundation.info) and through a toll-free number (1-877-248-1122). Through the website or hotline, those interested can register to attend an information session on May 31 at 5 p.m. in Chico, on June 7 at 10 a.m. in Paradise, or on June 8 at 9 a.m. in Oroville.

If successful, Friends of Hospice will be implemented in other California communities. Friends of Hospice is funded by private donations under the auspices of California Hospice Foundation, 501(c)(3) charitable foundation dedicated to improving access to quality hospice and palliative care services through education and public awareness.

The American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine announced that Dr. Samuel Brown, medical director of Butte Home Health & Hospice received certification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

The Hospice and palliative medicine is a discipline of care devoted to providing the best possible quality of life for the patient and family throughout a life-threatening illness.

According to the ABHPM website, www.ABHPM.org, Dr. Brown is the only physician with this certification in Butte County and one of only two north of Sacramento. He is also board certified in Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry and is an EPEC Trainer (Education for Physician on End of Life Care).

For the past six years Dr. Brown has served as medical director for Butte Home Health & Hospice and created the treatment protocol for its Memory Loss Program. He continues to follow the new and developing treatment for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of Dementia.

Butte Home Health recently achieved the status of a "national best practice agency" under the Briggs National Quality Improvement/ Hospitalization Reduction Study, which was sponsored by the Briggs Corp. and cosponsored by the National Association for Home Care & Hospice and Fazzi Associates. The study's goal was to determine a common set of best practices used by home health agencies that are most successful in keeping patient hospitalization rates at 19 percent or lower, though the national average is approximately 28 percent or higher. The study researchers used data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to select agencies that represent the top-performing 10 percent in minimizing re-hospitalizations and also engaged the home care community at large for input on best practices for reducing hospitalizations.

"We are extremely proud that Butte Home Health has improved the lives of tens of thousands of seniors over the past 20 years. We are honored to be named as a National Best Practice Agency," said Brooke Quilici, PHN, Director of Patient Care Services. "We look forward to continuing to improve the quality of care for seniors in Butte, Glenn, and Tehama counties."

The top five best practice strategies identified in the report are:


•   fall prevention (83%)
•   front loading services (71%)
•   management culture and support (69%)
•   medication management (64%)
•   24 hour availability (63%)