Hospice Choices: VITAS® Healthcare Opens in Alabama, Expands in Florida Panhandle

A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on this link.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., April 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hospice patients and their families in the Florida Panhandle and areas in Southern Alabama can now access quality end-of-life services with VITAS Healthcare. Starting today, the nation’s largest and leading provider of end-of-life care begins accepting referrals and admitting seriously ill patients throughout Tallahassee in Florida and Daphne-Mobile and Dothan in Alabama.

“At VITAS, we are committed to providing premier end-of-life care to individuals and families across our communities,” said Jennifer Nygaard, VITAS senior vice president of operations. “The addition of these new service areas enables our compassionate care teams to extend their expertise, so patients and their families receive the critical support and comfort they deserve during one of life's most challenging times.”

For more than 45 years, VITAS has delivered innovative, patient-centered hospice services in Florida. Offices in Tallahassee, Daphne-Mobile and Dothan serve as a home base for interdisciplinary teams who provide clinical, emotional and spiritual care for seriously ill patients in their homes, nursing homes, assisted living communities and inpatient care settings.

When patients in the Panhandle region need care beyond what can be managed at home, VITAS offers inpatient hospice care. The cozy facilities offer homelike amenities with 24/7 support until the patient can return home, where they prefer to receive care.

VITAS services for hospice-eligible Florida and Alabama patients include:

• Admissions personnel available 24/7/365—at the convenience of the family or upon the request of the physician.
• Physical, emotional and spiritual care provided by a hospice team that visits the patient in the comfort of their home, nursing home or assisted living facility, an average of five-plus times per week.
• 24/7 access to trained clinicians who can send a team member to the patient’s home when necessary.
• Continuous care at home for up to 24 hours when needed.
• Comprehensive open formulary pharmacy program, with hospice-related medical equipment and supplies delivered to the home.
• Complex modalities for high-acuity patients (IV therapies, inotropes, paracentesis/thoracentesis, high-flow oxygen, palliative blood transfusions, TPN and more).
• Respiratory therapy for those with complex and specialized respiratory care needs.
  

Additional therapies and patient-focused programs include:

• A nationally recognized veterans program.
• Music therapy visits by a certified music therapist with the goal of meeting physical, emotional, cognitive, social and spiritual needs through music.
• Paw Pals^® visits from loving animals and their volunteer owners to provide comfort.
• Memory Bears, hand-crafted from a loved one’s clothing that serve as huggable keepsakes for a patient’s surviving family.
• Specialized sepsis care and palliative care teams.
  

Since its founding in 1978 in Florida, VITAS has cared for more than 1.5 million patients nationally. As the number of seniors across the nation continues to grow, VITAS is determined to continue expanding access to communities in need of essential end-of-life support.

In March 2024, VITAS entered into an agreement to acquire all hospice operations and an assisted living facility from Covenant Care. Being a similar long-standing, mission-focused provider, VITAS will build upon Covenant’s legacy by following its key values of putting patients and their families and its team members first. Both VITAS and Covenant Care share a commitment and passion to ensuring those in need have access to high-quality, expert healthcare.

VITAS develops deep roots in the communities it joins by partnering with community organizations to help further the mission of providing quality healthcare to all. Care for the community also extends to caregivers and healthcare practitioners. VITAS has plans to offer disease-specific education and support for caregivers, core training for assisted living facilities and mobile hospice education and outreach.

Healthcare professionals can make seamless and secure one-touch referrals through the VITAS Healthcare mobile app. Find interactive hospice eligibility guidelines, advanced prognostication information and calculators and VITAS locations by downloading the award-winning app, available for iOS and Android devices. Referrals are also accepted 24/7 by calling 800.93.VITAS (800.938.4827).

About VITAS^® Healthcare
Established in 1978, VITAS Healthcare is a pioneer and leader in the American hospice movement. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, VITAS (pronounced VEE-tahs) operates 50 hospice programs in 14 states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia. VITAS employs 10,537 professionals who care for patients with advanced illness, primarily in the patients’ homes, and also in the company’s 25 inpatient hospice units as well as in hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living communities/residential care facilities for the elderly. At the conclusion of the fourth quarter of 2023, VITAS reported an average daily census of 19,455. Visit www.vitas.com.

Media inquiries contact: [email protected], 877-848-2701