St. Francis Hospice 

“I understand fully the challenges a family faces as parents move into the final stage of life. Caring professionals help make this journey easier for the elderly and their family. Finding genuinely loving and caring professional who share your concern for your parents is a gift.”

Hospice is an age-old concept, symbolizing a place where the weary could find rest and comfort. Today, hospice offers quality of life care to patients who have a limited life expectancy and their families.

While the hospice concept continues to gain acceptance and understanding, some people still think hospice is the last resort—when there is no hope. On the contrary, hospice is about living life to the fullest.

Established in 1978, St. Francis Hospice is Hawaii’s first and largest hospice program, nationally accredited by The Joint Commission. St. Francis Hospice provides physical, emotional, social and spiritual care to terminally ill patients and their families.

Hospice focuses on care for the individual and family, rather than the disease and curative measures. The goal of hospice is to provide patients who have a life expectancy of six months or less, based on a physician’s prognosis, with palliative and compassionate care so they may live out their last days with purpose, dignity and quality, surrounded by their loved ones in their own home.

Hospice emphasizes:

When patients cannot be cared for at home, St. Francis Hospice offers two inpatient hospice facilities:  the 12-bed Sister Maureen Keleher Center in Nuuanu and the 24-bed Maurice J. Sullivan Family Hospice Center in Ewa Beach, where rooms are designed to allow family members to spend the night and remain with a loved one in their final days.

St. Francis Hospice also provides hospice care to patients at skilled nursing facilities, care homes, nursing homes and retirement facilities. 

Hospice care is lower in cost than hospitalization because there are no extensive laboratory or other diagnostic charges. St. Francis Hospice is a Medicare/Medicaid certified hospice program, and many other private insurance companies reimburse all or part of the cost of hospice care.

Care is offered to patients and their families regardless of race, religion, gender or ability to pay. Charity care is available for individuals who are not covered by any program.

Admission Criteria

Hospice care is appropriate when:

• The patient, family and physician agree and understand that comfort care and symptom management are the primary focus
• The attending physician believes that the patient has a terminal illness with a life expectancy of six months or less
• Curative treatment has been completed and is no longer an option

Referrals to St. Francis Hospice are usually made by physicians. A discharge planner, social worker, patient, family member, nursing home, and clergy may also refer patients to the hospice program.

It is estimated that 50% to 75% of terminally ill people in Hawaii are eligible for hospice care, but only 20% are actually admitted in a program.  Too often, referrals for hospice care are not made until the patient is near death.  The patient and family can benefit much more when referred earlier.  Hospice care provides comprehensive comfort to patients by relieving suffering—physically, emotionally, socially and spiritually.  Hospice care helps family members come to terms with impending death and helps them care for their loved one with support from a multidisciplinary team of professionals. The majority of hospice referrals are cancer related; however, hospice can also benefit those with kidney disease, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), AIDS, end stage heart and lung disease, and other life-threatening illnesses. 

To make a referral, please call St. Francis Hospice at (808) 595-7566.

Hospice Services

The plan of care is individualized and developed with input from the patient, family, and our St. Francis Hospice team in conjunction with the patient's personal physician.

St. Francis Hospice provides a range of services that covers a patient’s special needs:

• Nursing
• Social Work
• Personal Care
• Spiritual Care
• Volunteer Assistance
• Bereavement Support
• Medical Equipment
• Pharmacy Services
• Medical Supplies
• X-ray/Laboratory

Hospice nurses are available 24 hours a day for questions, concerns or emergency visits. They can be reached by calling (808) 595-7566 or (808) 678-7580.

Advance Directive 

Under the law, patients have the right to make decisions about their own health care.  They also have the right to name someone else to make health care decisions for them. Patients can make their choices or wishes known through an advance health care directive that contains their instructions for health care. Click here for more information on Advance Directives.

Important Documents

This checklist of important documents is designed to help guide patients and their families put affairs in order.
___ Advance directives: living wills
___ Durable power of attorney for health care decisions
___ Wills or living trust documents
___ Insurance policies
___ Birth and marriage certificates
___ Real estate deeds
___ Bank accounts and investments
___ Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.
___ Social Security benefits
___ Military benefits
___ Employee benefits or pension plan
___ Burial plans
___ Tax returns
___ List of property or assets
___ Liabilities (mortgages, loans, etc.)

Spiritual Support

Providing respite and refreshment after a long journey was the original concept for hospice.  St. Francis Hospice provides compassionate care for those completing life’s journey and entering their final stage of life.  Spiritual Services, available to patients and family members of all faiths, are a major part of the interdisciplinary care you receive at St. Francis Hospice.  Our goal is to enhance a patient’s well-being, dignity and peace.

Whether it’s someone to share your pain or cry with, to lend a listening ear, or to provide spiritual counseling or prayer, our chaplains are available for you and your family.  A spiritual assessment will be completed by a Hospice chaplain to identify the patient’s needs for spiritual support.  Spiritual counseling services are provided as desired, in keeping with the patient/family’s beliefs.  The Sacraments are available to patients of Catholic faith.  Coordination of visits with outside clergy, ministers or spiritual counselors will be arranged upon the request of a patient.   Services are available seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

The chapels in both inpatient hospice facilities are open daily.

Bereavement Support

Bereavement support is the hallmark of St. Francis Hospice. Services are provided to family members for a period of one year following the death of a loved one.  These include follow-up phone calls and visits, invitations to grief workshops, support groups, and social functions.  A “Rose for Remembrance” memorial service is held annually for survivors to honor their loved ones. In 1999, St. Francis Hospice created “Walk in the Mall,” a monthly gathering at Pearlridge Center Uptown (first Wednesday, 8-9 am.) in Aiea, Oahu and at Kahala Mall (third Wednesday, 8-9 a.m.) in East Honolulu.  Walk in the Mall, which won a Spirit of Excellence Award, provides a safe environment for survivors to meet, share their grief and receive the benefits of exercise.  

“The sum of the whole of this: walk and be happy; walk and be healthy.  The best way to lengthen out our days is to walk steadily and with a purpose.”  Charles Dickens

Click here for more information on Bereavement Support.

Volunteers: Our Stars

Volunteers are the heart of St. Francis Hospice, providing an invaluable amount of support in a variety of ways. All volunteers go through a volunteer training program. 

Volunteers

• provide companionship and personal care to patients
• run errands, light housekeeping and respite in the home setting or in patient setting
• provide office support including answering the phone, greeting visitors and clerical assistance
• assist at special events
• who speak Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Laotian, and Filipino and Chinese dialects are also desired.

For more information on how to become a volunteer, call the St. Francis Hospice program at
(808) 595-7566.