11/13/12 Holmes County Hospice endowment may be depleted in two years

  • By Nick Sabo
  • November 13, 2012
  • 324
                        
SUMMARY: Hosoice and Palliative Care of Greater Wayne County, Holmes health district seek solutions Hospice and Palliative Care of Greater Wayne County is seeking to strengthen its relationship with Holmes County to preserve a fund that helps local residents with end of life care. Standing at $404,121.90 as of Oct. 31, the Holmes County Health District’s Hospice endowment fund has about two years of life left, according to Holmes County Health District director of finance Nyla Burick. The fund started 2012 with $585,329, and has been paying out an average of $20,000 per month. The endowment covers the expenses of Hospice services for Holmes County residents who cannot afford them. With funds drying up, the health district and Hospice and Palliative Care Greater Wayne County Executive Director Colleen Nettleton are scrambling to find ways to preserve the endowment. The health district has continued to administer the fund since merging with Hospice and Palliative Care of Greater Wayne County in December 2011. It is part of Hospice and Palliative Care of Greater Wayne County’s mission that all who need Hospice care will receive it. Regardless of their ability to pay, patients who have a terminal disease and are in need of end of life medical attention will be served by Hospice. Hospice and Palliative Care of Greater Wayne County also has a fund that helps meet this mission. The Holmes County Hospice endowment further helps ensure that local residents will receive care. Holmes County Health Commissioner Dr. D.J. McFadden said county residents value the endowment because it gives them a choice to determine where their donation will be used. “There’s always this fear, that as a smaller county their donation will be absorbed by a larger county,” McFadden said. “The donation that you gave for your neighbors will be diluted. It’s not everyone’s perspective” but it is important to many people when deciding to donate, McFadden said. With the merger into the Hospice and Palliative Care of Greater Wayne County, many perceived that local control was lost, McFadden said. At the start of the merger, all memorial contributions went to a large fund shared between all of Hospice’s clients in Holmes, Wayne, and Medina counties. The perception was noted early on, Nettleton said, leading to changes in how Hospice and Palliative Care of Greater Wayne County collects memorial contributions. Patients served in Holmes County are identified and when a memorial contribution comes in in their name, the memorial contribution goes right back to the Holmes County endowment. “Basically, if the contribution is generated or donated from Holmes County, it goes back into the Holmes County endowment fund,” Nettleton said. “It helps if the person making the contribution designates where the contribution is coming from. But we do check the names of the deceased.” The same is true for local fundraisers. Funds raised through an annual letter campaign to Amish bishops, a silent auction held during Charm Days and the Christmas Cookie Tour of Inns, among others, have always gone straight to the endowment fund and will continue to do so. The fundraisers are crucial to the endowment, bringing in $40,000 per year, on average. Several small, one-time fundraisers have benefited the endowment fund as well. With Holmes County now under its umbrella, Hospice and Palliative Care of Greater Wayne County is looking at changing its name to reflect a non-regional title, Nettleton said. She sees a logo that includes a stand-alone name that identifies the Hospice organization, and the names of three counties it serves below in smaller type. Throughout its 12 year existence, the endowment fund has been dependent on fundraisers and donations. It started in 2000 with $25,000, made up mostly from a single, large donation. Other large donations - including an anonymous donation of $250,000 known as the Little Angel Fund - grew the endowment throughout the first decade of the millenium. At its height, the endowment had more than $800,000. When Holmes County Hospice was under the auspices of the health district, the endowment was used to purchase software for the Hospice program. Primarily, however, its only purpose has been to cover the care of indigent patients. Demand for services has been chipping away at the endowment, and revenue generated by the fund itself has shrunk due to low interest rates. The endowment is a collection of certificates of deposit, and these CDs pay interest anywhere from $729 per month on the Little Angel fund down to a few dollars on the smaller CDs. The problem of the endowment is the subject of continuing discussion with the Holmes County Health District Board of Trustees. Boardmember Kurt Rodhe has suggested capping the amount available to each patient. The board is in favor of drawing up a committee specifically to look at the issue. On Hospice and Palliative Care of Greater Wayne County’s side of things, Nettleton said current fundraisers will be looked at to see if they can be expanded. Other means of fundraising will be scrutinized as well. “What we’re doing now can’t go on forever,” Nettleton said. “We’re paying out more than we’re bringing in. That’s something we’re going to be thinking about going into 2013.”


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