Norfolk woman celebrates 106th birthday after hospice discharge for being too healthy

Norfolk woman celebrates 106th birthday after hospice discharge for being too healthy 
CBS WTKR 3, Norfolk, VA; by Vashti Moore; 9/6/24 
A local woman not only celebrated good health on Thursday, but she also celebrated 106 years of life. Dorothy Southall was born in Whaleyville — a small neighborhood in Suffolk on Sept. 5, 1918. That’s two years before women received the right to vote and two months before the end of World War I. ... She served her community as a healthcare worker for 20 years before moving back to Virginia in the late 1980s where she would live on her own and manage her own finances until she was 103. ... In August 2023, while living with her family, Dorothy was discharged from hospice because she deemed too healthy and no longer met the requirements. When admitted into residential care this summer in Norfolk, Dorothy said she “felt like she was home” when she arrived. 
Editor's note: Is this hospice discharge perceived as positive or negative by its tv/news audience? Too often, hospice organizations (and thus news reporters) do not communicate relevant information about the CMS Face-to-Face Requirement Affecting Hospice Recertification. Click here for this crucial regulation. Ongoing stories about (1) fraudulent hospice admissions, and even (2) long-term hospice care (i.e., President Jimmy Carter's now 18 month hospice stay) can create misleading messages about hospice care for all. Now is the time to develop your communications with your patients, their families, and your public communities with ethical integrity and transparency.