Mount Carmel Hospice Gains Accreditation and Now Accepting Patients – Fort Scott Biz

Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas in Fort Scott, June 2023

FORT SCOTT –– A new hospice service dedicated to caring for terminally ill residents in Bourbon and Crawford County has reached a major milestone. Mount Carmel Hospice, a nonprofit organization operating within the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas (CHC/SEK), has officially received accreditation from CHAP, the Community Health Accreditation Partner, Inc., for meeting the Hospice standards.

The CHAP accreditation demonstrates that Mount Carmel Hospice meets the industry’s highest nationally recognized standards. As patients approach the end of life, hospice care focuses on quality of life when the quantity of life is limited. Hospice care helps patients spend their final months with the greatest comfort and dignity, and care is provided to the entire family, not just the person with the disease.

Mount Carmel Hospice was founded in 2023 by CHC/SEK after Bourbon County’s locally operated hospice service closed. Mount Carmel Hospice is currently accepting patient registrations from Bourbon and Crawford counties. Expansion to additional areas is planned for the near future.

Mount Carmel Hospice takes its name from the legacy of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Wichita, who were early pioneers in healthcare and founders of Mount Carmel Hospital in Pittsburg in 1902.

To qualify for hospice, a patient must be diagnosed by a doctor with a terminal illness, with a life expectancy of six months or less if the disease follows a normal course. Hospice services are fully covered by Medicare and most other insurance plans. If the terminal condition improves, the patient can be discharged from hospice and return to curative treatment. If necessary, patients can return to hospice care later.

Mount Carmel Hospice’s care team is made up of compassionate experts who help manage symptoms so patients can feel comfortable and spend their final days in ways that matter to them. Nurses are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Social workers, chaplains, home care aides, volunteers and grief counselors all help to wrap an extra layer of compassion and support for patients and their loved ones.

Volunteers are also an important part of the hospice team and bring special skills and talents to share. Volunteers offer the gift of giving time to patients and families. Additional services include grief support groups, which are available free of charge to anyone in the community.

To contact Mount Carmel Hospice, please call 620-264-6550 or email Becky Davied, at [email protected]. For those interested in volunteering with Mount Carmel Hospice, please contact a hospice representative at 620-264-6550 or apply for a volunteer position on our website at chcsek.org/careers.

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About the Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas

The Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas is a nonprofit, federally qualified health center based in Pittsburg, Kansas, committed to providing quality health care to everyone, regardless of income or insurance status. CHC/SEK serves more than 60,000 children and adults annually at clinics in Bourbon, Crawford, Cherokee, Labette, Linn, Montgomery and Allen counties, and in Ottawa County, Oklahoma. For more information, visit www.chcsek.org.