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Advance Directives

The word "hospice" (derived from the same root as "hospitality") can be traced back to Roman times. In medieval Europe, it referred to way stations where weary travelers could rest, where pregnant women could give birth, and where the ill could recover or find a peaceful death.

The modern hospice movement was begun in London in 1967 by Dr. Cicely Saunders, who wrote that the process of dying "Is the search for who you are, what the world is about, and what your place in it somehow is." Dr. Saunders provided her patients with the best medication possible to control pain so they and their families could address the emotional and spiritual challenges they faced. In 1968, Florence Wald, then dean of the School of Nursing at Yale University, brought the idea of Hospice to the United States.

Memorial Hospice was established and began serving the Yakima Valley in the 1990s and is available today to patients and families throughout Central Washington.

• 1995 - Presentation to the Hospital Board requesting the start of Hospice services
• Sept, 1995 - first hospice patient served; agency becomes Medicare-certified; Dr Tony Ha is the first Medical Director.
• 1996 - First full year of hospice service; support group started; volunteer trainings begin.
• 2002 - Dr Patrick Waber becomes the Hospice Medical Director
• 2005 - Palliative Care Community Group came together to determine the palliative care needs; out of this group came the need for a Hospice care facility.
• 2006 - Feasibility and community needs assessment done related to having a Hospice Care Facility
• 2006 - Certificate of Need application submitted
• May, 2007 - Public Hearing related to the Hospice Care Facility held by Department of Health (DOH) - 40 individuals spoke in favor of such a facility as well as numerous letters submitted
• July, 2007 - DOH granted the Certificate of Need to Memorial Hospice for the establishment of a Hospice Care Facility
• November, 2007 - the land was chosen for the site of the new facility

Notable Events In Hospice History

• " 1963: Dame Cicely Saunders, the physician who founded St. Christopher's, the first modern hospice, introduces the idea of specialized care for the dying to the United States during a 1963 visit to Yale University.
• " 1967: The term hospice is first applied to specialized care for dying patients.
• 1969: Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross' book, On Death And Dying, is published. Kübler-Ross' book, based on more than 500 interviews with dying patients, identifies the five stages through which many terminally ill patients progress. In her book, Kübler-Ross makes a plea for home care as the alternative to treatment in an institutional setting, and argues that patients should have a choice and the ability to participate in the decisions that affect their destiny.
• 1972: Dr. Kübler-Ross testifies at the first national hearings on the subject of death with dignity, which are conducted by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging.
• 1974: Senators Frank Church and Frank E. Moss introduce legislation that would provide federal funds for hospice programs but the legislation was not enacted.
• 1982: Congress includes a provision to create a Medicare hospice benefit in the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, with a 1986 sunset provision.
• 1986: The Medicare Hospice Benefit is made permanent by Congress and hospices are given a 10% increase in reimbursement rates, making hospice care available to terminally ill nursing home residents.
• 1993: Hospice care is included as a nationally guaranteed benefit under President Clinton's health care reform proposal and becomes an accepted part of the health care continuum.
• 1999: The U.S. Postal Service issues a Hospice Care commemorative stamp.
• 2004: Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross passes away from natural causes.