Literature Review

Hospice of Humboldt announces $250,000 matching gift My Humboldt Life, Eureka, CA; 3/15/26 Hospice of Humboldt is pleased to announce a $250,000 matching gift from the owners of Premier Financial Group to support the continued growth of its Home-Based Palliative Care program. ... Launched in 2022, Hospice of Humboldt’s Home-Based Palliative Care program currently serves 70 patients and meeting the next fundraising goal will allow them to expand to 140 individuals. “Nearly 30 years ago, our founders set out to model how organizations can invest meaningfully in their communities through a strong culture of giving,” said Wayne Caldwell, CFP®, Chairman of the Board and Founder of Premier Financial Group. 

Dignity in motion: How hospice care and wheelchair transportation shape senior comfort in Tacoma US Culture & Style Today, Tacoma, WA; Press RElease; 3/11/26 For seniors approaching the most sensitive stages of life, the quality of care is defined not only by what happens inside a home or medical facility but also by how individuals move between places. Transportation during hospice care and assisted living transitions must protect dignity, emotional calm, and physical safety. When medical transportation is handled with respect and patience, the entire care experience becomes gentler for both seniors and their families. ... 

Residential Home Health and Hospice acquires Covenant [Home Health in Pennsylvania] Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 3/10/26 Residential Home Health and Hospice has acquired Covenant Home Health in Pennsylvania for a confidential amount. Covenant provides home health, private duty and supportive services throughout nine counties in its home state. The transaction will bring Residential’s footprint to two new counties and add density in seven others. ... Residential provides skilled home health, palliative and hospice care in communities across Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Longer-running state POLST programs improve end-of-life outcomes for SNF patients McKnights Long-Term Care News; by Kimberly Marselas; 3/9/26 Nursing home patients are more likely to die in the facility or in hospice than in a hospital in states with mature POLST programs, according to a new, first-of-its kind study. Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment, also known as POLST or MOLST, are standing orders meant to assist in decision-making at the end of life to ensure patients’ treatment preferences are documented. ... Researchers behind the new study said results suggest continued implementation and long-term use of POLST programs streamlined advance directives among residents, helped lessen unnecessary hospitalizations and limited aggressive care at the end of life. 

Staying in Grand: Experts highlight unique challenges facing older adults in mountain towns Sky-Hi News; by Kyle McCabe and Izzy Wagner; 2/27/26 ... As people age in rural resort communities like those in Grand and Summit counties, they often face situations that require them to leave for short or extended periods of time —  sometimes even permanently. A lack of comprehensive medical services, high costs of living, the effects of high altitude on the body, the inherent risks of an active mountain lifestyle and more add complications for people hoping to age in place in mountain towns. However, individuals determined to remain in their communities have figured out ways to overcome those challenges by learning about, preparing for and engaging with the topic of aging. ... Smiley [person interviewed] pointed to hospice and palliative care, or care for people living with serious illnesses, as gaps in service in the area. “It is not an uncommon gap in a small community or in a mountain community,” Smiley said, “but having hospice and palliative care would really allow people to have, kind of, a higher quality of life during those last, final years.”

Duxbury, Norwell groups have rebranded. Why the name changes? The Patriot Ledger, Su Cheible; 3/3/26 I recently learned that the former Norwell Visiting Nurse Association (NVNA) and Hospice had in December taken a new name, Croí Health. Croí is an Irish word for heart, chosen to reflect the agency's patient-centered mission. I also noticed that the Duxbury Senior Center is now called The Center, has a tag line: "Live Well. Age Strong." It also notes that it is "still powered by the Duxbury Council on Aging." Its newsletter has a stylish new design and name, The Current, replacing the former name Duxbury Doings. ... Why senior centers are changing their names: In their names and their branding, the centers are switching to what they see as more active, more inclusive and more modern ideas. It is described as part of being age friendly, attracting younger seniors and moving away from negative associations and stigma still attached to growing older.

The measure isn’t wrong. The story is incomplete. McKnights Long-Term Care News; by Steven Littlehale; 2/27/26 Not long ago, I was sitting across from a nursing home leadership team as they stared at a quality measure report that didn’t make sense to them. ... So we did what more facilities should do when a QM score feels off: We stopped looking at the rating and started looking at the math. That’s where the real story surfaced. It wasn’t about poor care, but about exclusions not captured, covariates not fully coded, and pieces of the clinical picture that never made it into the structured data fields the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reads. 

“You’re not just there to do a job”: a qualitative examination of Canadian long-term care worker strengths BMH Health Services Research; by Duneesha Goonetilleke, Nick Boettcher, Sofia Celis & Bonnie Lashewicz; 2/25/26, online ahead of print Results: We present three themes identifying interlocking expressions of strength. First, during crisis, workers stretched roles, redistributed tasks, and supported one another to sustain care under extreme constraint. Second, staff upheld person-centred care in their daily actions, working from values of dignity, relationships, and residents’ goals. Third, workers translated experience into learning and advocacy, articulating ideas to improve staffing, role clarity, leadership practices, and visitation approaches. Across these expressions, workers’ tenacity, togetherness, and shared purpose enabled collective action, although these strengths often entailed costs such as fatigue and moral strain. 

New ‘care home’ for seniors aims to bring alternative to home health care WCAX-3 CBS, East Middlebury, VT; by Laura Ullman; 2/18/26 Vermont has a housing crisis for seniors trying to age in place. A nonprofit in Addison County is hoping to pioneer a new model to meet the needs of Vermont’s aging demographic. “Addison County Home Health looked for about a year and a half to find a space, ...” said Deb Wesley, the CEO of Addison County Home Health & Hospice. ... “Our goal is to provide a home for eight individuals who really are medically frail, are really unable to live at home alone, or require some increased assistance for their care,” Wesley said. ... Addison County Home Health & Hospice is hoping to open this care home in late spring.

‘It’s a collaborative effort’: Northern Light Medical Transport paramedics providing hospice supportWABI-5, Bangor, ME; by Alyssa Thurlow; 2/19/26 ... Paramedics can help patients across Maine with a variety of needs, but some are embracing a slower-paced role, focused on assisting those who are at the end of life. “Patients have access to care 24/7, and part of that coverage for after-hours is now coming through the community paramedicine program,” said hospice educator Allie Rohrer, RN. ... “It’s not with lights and sirens. It’s very low key. It’s driving there in a car, and then it’s talking through the issues,” said paramedic Ed Moreshead. ... Northern Light’s community paramedics are contracted with Northern Light Home Care & Hospice. Families in need of assistance call the triage number, and a hospice nurse and on-call physician can respond if needed.

This American Heart Month, Carolina Caring elevates cardiac care for serious illness Carolina Caring, Newton, NC; Press Release; 2/9/26 February is American Heart Month, a national effort to raise awareness about heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. As of 2025, 6.7 million Americans over the age of 20 are living with heart failure (Heart Failure Society of America, 2025). ... In response, Carolina Caring’s Advanced Cardiac Care program provides effective, tailored support to patients with chronic heart conditions. As the first cardiac care program of its kind in North Carolina, Carolina Caring combines nationally recognized standards of care with a home-based hospice approach. 

Suffolk paramedic students participate in 1st clinical hospice-specific rotation Patch, Westhampton-Hampton Bays, NY; by Lisa Finn; 2/12/26 In a groundbreaking new program, Suffolk County Community College paramedic students have begun participating in New York State’s first hospice-specific clinical rotation at the East End Hospice Kanas Center for Hospice Care in Westhampton Beach. As part of their program training, Suffolk students already complete more than 600 clinical hours in areas that overlap with emergency services, including emergency rooms, labor and delivery, and mental health, officials said. The new initiative introduces an unprecedented focus on hospice care within paramedic education, officials added.

EMS at 60: The past, present, and future of our profession Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS); by David Ferris; 2/10/26 This year, 2026, marks sixty years since the birth of organized national EMS in the United States, and I’ve been fortunate—or maybe stubborn—enough to ride in the back of an ambulance for more than half of that history. For 34 years I’ve carried a radio, a drug box, and the weight of responsibility that comes with being a paramedic. In that time, I’ve watched EMS evolve from the Wild West of guesswork and tradition into a profession grounded in evidence, outcomes, and community health. What follows isn’t just a timeline of milestones; it’s the story of EMS through my own eyes, ...Editor's Note: Whose life--in your life--has been saved (or significantly helped) by Emergency Medical Services?  Memories through the years break through my take-it-for-granted view. While in hospice we tend to downplay EMS calls and hospitalization, join me in gratitude for the timely, life-saving and mitigation of horrific outcomes provided 24/7 by EMS care.