As a 15-year veteran in the business and a national leader in providing end-of-life care, Seasons Hospice and Palliative Care serves 15,000 annually, placing it in the ranks of the nation’s top 10 providers of hospice and palliative care. This January Seasons converted the former Miami Jewish Health Systems Douglas Gardens Hospice to, “Seasons Hospice and Healthcare of Florida.” Since then it has grown from a January enrollment of 120 patients to 183 this July.
Says Executive Director Pedro Del Campo, “Those numbers represent 30 to 40 percent growth on a year-to-day basis. We’ve had steady growth month to month, which is impressive considering the fact that hospice patients stay an average of 50 to 70 days before they pass away. In Del Campo’s view, the small number of hospices in Florida right now adequately addresses community needs for hospice care, but that’s about to change in the next 10 years.“Florida already has a huge population of elderly people who are Medicare patients,” he adds. “In the next 10 years the baby boomers who today are in their 50s and 60s will cause an explosion of citizens reaching the Medicare age. Florida is being proactive in creating waiver programs so that patients can get services at home rather than having to enter nursing homes. Remember, nursing home coverage for Medicare patients costs the state $220 a day. But assisted living programs, or at-home services can be covered by Florida’s new waiver programs much more inexpensively.
Even when you piggyback hospice services on top of home health services being provided under waiver programs, it will cost the state less than $3,000 monthly—still cheaper than a nursing home. The new waiver programs are much more cost-effective and they’re being put into place just in time.”
A National Leader with a Unique Marketplace Niche
Beyond just monitoring emerging trends, the management at Seasons Hospice has created programs that have made it one of the thought leaders in the hospice industry. Del Campo notes, “Seasons is at the forefront of music therapy, and it helps differentiate us from other hospice companies. It’s also one of the things responsible for our rapid growth.” The company is the first hospice business to create a comprehensive Music Therapy Department as an integral part of its staff.
Music therapist Joseph Goelz who works at the Miami Seasons facility explains, “Seasons Hospice is one of the largest employers of music therapists in the U.S., and one of the first to include music therapy as a core discipline, rather than an afterthought.” He explains that what he does goes beyond entertainment, even while as a music therapist he must be a soothing and proficient musician. Goelz is also highly trained as a therapist to observe, facilitate and document how music impacts the patient. Research supports the fact that sound stimulates heart rate, blood pressure and release of the body’s natural painkilling chemicals. During visits with patients Goelz plays the guitar and sometimes sings. He frequently observes that it assists with pain and can also stimulate unresponsive Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.
“Word of mouth is what’s responsible for the popularity of our music therapy program.” Del Campo reports. “People talk with their friends and neighbors about how much music therapy stimulated their bedbound, unresponsive relative. Del Campo has a favorite story about a patient from Cuba who had remained silent during her stay at Seasons. The music therapist played songs that were popular in Cuba while the woman was growing up. “The patient’s daughter was in tears. Her mother, who hadn’t spoken in six months began to sing along when the music therapist played Cuban songs she remembered from her childhood.”
It’s no accident that Season’s National Director of Supportive Services, Russell Hilliard, is trained as a music therapist, along with earning credentials as a Social Worker and ordained Chaplain. Hilliard is well connected among those directing music therapy programs in American universities. Recently he’s been instrumental in arranging with the University of Miami to provide music therapy interns to the Miami Season’s facility. Says Del Campo, “The interns can complete their requirement for a six-month internship in a facility with a board certified music therapist, and our facility will have a larger staff of music therapists. Everyone will benefit tremendously from the arrangement—most of all our patients.”
