St. Mary's Recognized for Palliative and Hospice Care

For its innovative programs that improve quality of care for patients near the end of life or who are living with chronic conditions, has been named a 2011 Circle of Life Award® Honoree by the American Hospital Association.

“St. Mary’s Health Care System has made a strong commitment to quality palliative and end-of-life care and has embedded this focus throughout the organization,”  Rich Umbdenstock, President and CEO of the American Hospital Association said in a released statement. “They provide comprehensive care for individuals and their families through an interdisciplinary team of caregivers that includes physicians, nurses, chaplains and social workers who work to address the psychosocial, emotional, spiritual and physical needs of their patients.”

St. Mary's was the only hospital in the South and only community hospital in the nation to be recognized, according to the news release.

Along with St. Mary's Hospital, the following organizations were chosen as winners or honorees:

• The Center for Hospice & Palliative Care, Cheektowaga, New York, award winner
• Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Palliative Care Service, Lebanon, New Hampshire, honoree
• Gilchrist Hospice Care, Hunt Valley, Maryland, award winner
• John H. Stroger, Jr., Hospital of Cook County Palliative Care
• Program, Chicago, Illinois, honoree
• St. John Providence Health System, Detroit, Michigan, award winner
• University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Supportive and Palliative Care Program, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, honoree

A committee of leaders from the fields of medicine, nursing, social work, ethics and health administration selected winners and honorees based on certain criteria.