Mary Harrison was one of a group of volunteers determined to assure that people in the community dealing with the challenges presented by life ending illnesses and chronic conditions could access compassionate care, symptom management and support.   The loss of her aunt and the lack of any kind of support for her family members was the driving force in Mary’s efforts to provide help to others. It was the reason she became a social worker and the reason she formed a group of nurses, hospital administrators and concerned citizens who wanted to assure that assistance would be available.

 

After a year and a half of research, visiting hospices around the country and meeting with community officials and business leaders, the group realized it would have to establish their own hospice if they wanted to achieve their goal. In 1978, the organizers became the board of directors for a newly formed, healthcare provider, Hospice of Boca Raton, renamed Hospice by the Sea, Inc. in 1984. At that time, the state of Florida required hospices to be not for profit organizations.

 

As a new provider of healthcare services, one of the many challenges for the new organization was to educate the local healthcare community, as well as the public, about hospice and the services it offered.

“It does not matter whether you are a medical professional or a parent, spouse or friend. The same discomfort about engaging in a conversation about the issues surrounding the dying process existed. You just didn’t talk about it,” Harrison says. She firmly believes that everyone “has the right to know about what can be done to improve quality of their own life or the life of those they love, just as they need to be aware of the treatments that possibly could extend life.”

 

“Today, awareness of hospice and the benefits it offers are greater than it was in the seventies and early eighties, but the average person does not want to think about anything using the words “death” or “dying.” People still are reluctant to have the conversation about what types of care a loved one would wish when the time comes that it will be needed.”

 

The aging of today’s population seriously impacts our healthcare community and increases the demand for hospice services. In 2012, an estimated 1.8 million patients received hospice care. Hospice is no longer a forbidden topic of conversation. Today the majority of people in Florida die in hospice care – something I never would have imagined," says Mary Harrison.

 

Hospitals already have realized the advantages of including hospice units within their service offerings. At the same time, increased government regulation, our economic crisis and the uncertainty of the future of healthcare coverage, make it difficult for not-for profit hospices to stay independent. With strategic planning and vision, Hospice by the Sea, Inc. is fortifying itself for the future. 

 

Today, hospice is the model for quality compassionate care for people facing a life-limiting illness. Hospice provides expert medical care, pain management as well as emotional and spiritual support expressly tailored to the patient’s needs and wishes. Hospice is the only Medicare benefit that includes pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and twenty-four hour/seven day a week access to care support for loved ones following a death. Hospice is delivered in the place the patient calls home as well as in-patient care centers.

 

Harrison does not believe that just because you are a nonprofit like Hospice by the Sea, you deliver better care. “It is not a black and white issue," she says, “but as a nonprofit you have a better chance of doing so because your primary responsibility is first to the patient and not to any stockholders. You invest in the services that will meet the needs of the community. Of course, to be successful you have to focus on the bottom line, but your mission is the driving force."

 

When asked what she finds the most dramatic difference in hospices since she founded Hospice by the Sea, Mary Harrison says, “Today they are owned by for profit companies and publically traded. I never would have imagined it."