National Alliance for Care at Home unveils new website to enhance member experience 
The National Alliance for Care at Home, Washington, DC; Press Release; 5/5/25 
The National Alliance for Care at Home (the Alliance), the leading advocate and educator for the care at home community, is proud to announce the launch of its newly redesigned website, AllianceForCareAtHome.org. The new site reflects the Alliance’s commitment to innovation, accessibility, and delivering enhanced value to member organizations and all care at home stakeholders. ... “We’re excited to introduce our new website as a digital reflection of who we are and where the Alliance is headed,” said CEO Dr. Steve Landers. ... Key features of the new website include:

• Resource Hub: ...
• Improved Navigation and Design: ...
• The Latest News and Analysis: ...
• Redesigned Communities: ...

New study uncovers significant variations in life expectancy across U.S. states 
Bioengineer.org - Health; by Bioengineer; 5/7/25 
"A Century of Unequal Longevity: How Geography and Policy Sculpt Life Expectancy in the United States"
In an extensive new investigation led by the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH), researchers have unveiled profound disparities in life expectancy trends throughout the United States over the last hundred years. This groundbreaking study reveals how the interplay between public health policies, social environments, and regional factors critically shapes the longevity of populations across states and the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. ... The findings are striking: while states in the Northeast and West Coast, alongside the District of Columbia, achieved remarkable gains in life expectancy over the twentieth century, several Southern states remained largely stagnant. Specifically, females born in some parts of the South experienced life expectancy increases of less than three years between 1900 and 2000.

'Patients just get violent' | Louisville healthcare workers describe attacks on the job, calling it a crisis 
ABC WHAS-11, Louisville, KY; by Shay McAlister, Joseph Garcia, Phillip Murrell, and MIchelle Zelli; 5/8/25
Right now Louisville’s nursing community is facing a crisis, saying they are under attack while on the job.  Since March, police have been called to three different Louisville hospitals after a nurse was assaulted. ... The three incidents of violence against nurses sit on a map of hundreds of crimes reported at or near Louisville hospitals and nearby parking garages over the last year. According to LMPD’s crime data portal, 17 assaults were reported at Norton Hospital, 10 at Jewish Hospital, and 28 at the UofL Hospital parking garage over the last 12 months. ... “Many healthcare professionals that are harmed don't report it, and they don't report it because they don't think anybody will listen. And then there are others who think that it's part of the job. It is not part of the job,” CEO of the Kentucky Nurses Association Delanor Manson said. In 2023, Manson worked with lawmakers to formalize language requiring healthcare facilities to track incidents of violence and implement violence prevention strategies. It's a crisis for the career field. ... Hosparus leadership [hospice and home health, Louisville-based] recently invested in a technology called KATANA. It’s a personal safety device that attaches directly to a smart phone. It works both as a trigger alarm, if nurses pull the trigger attached to the device and it has an app option, that offers additional safety features. 

Cobb named new director for Frederick Health Hospice 
WFMD 930 Free Talk, Frederick, MD; by Kevin McManus; 5/6/25 
Frederick Health Hospice has a new director. Korey Cobb has been named to the position. He is the third director since Hospice began in 1980. Cobb recently served as the Chief Operating Officer for Healthworks for Northern Virginia, a Federally Qualified Health Care Center in Leesburg, Virginia. In a statement, Cobb says joining Frederick Hospice as the Director  is “deeply meaningful” to him. “Frederick has always been more than just a community—it is home,” he says in the  statement. “I am committed to ensuring that every  family has access to compassionate, dignified care when they need it most.

Navian Hawaii receives $400K grant Pacific Business News - Health Care, O'ahu, HI; by Christina O'Connor; 5/8/25
Hospice and palliative care services nonprofit Navian Hawaii, formerly known as Hospice Hawaii, recently received a $400,000 grant from the Zilber Family Foundation to expand its palliative care program. The Honolulu-based nonprofit said on Wednesday the program features personalized care plans focused on improving quality of life for individuals with serious illnesses. It addresses physical symptoms, as well as emotional distress and planning for next steps, and includes access to nurses, physicians and social workers. This donation follows a $4.3 million gift from the Weinman Foundation earlier this year. That funding is going toward growing residential care. [The full article is behind a payall.]

Hospice of Midland opens new Community Center to expand local support 
Midland Reporter-Telegram, Midland, TX; by B. Kay Richter; 5/8/25 
After years of envisioning a community center next door to Hospice of Midland headquarters, the day is finally here. The commercial building, located at 901 W. Texas Ave., will serve as a space for various community needs, including professional and student educational support, bereavement support, memorial services, volunteer gatherings and even collaborations with other nonprofit organizations.  Deborah Goodman, chief executive officer of Hospice Midland, said that the building was initially purchased by Midlander Ted Johnson and was renovated with community support. The one-story building offers 3,000 square feet of space and is equipped with a new commercial kitchen.

It's time to talk about LGBTQ+ elder care 
Psychology Today - Caregiving; by Stephanie Sarazin, M.P.P.; 5/6/25 
A once-hidden story is helping us think about queer kinship and caregiving. Key points:

• LGBGQ+ patients and caregivers often struggle in healthcare systems not inclusive or sensitive to their needs.
• LGBTQ+ seniors are four times less likely than heterosexual peers to have children to aid in their care.
• Healthcare providers often fail to acknowledge the grief of LGBTQ+ partners.

Donate Life Ceremony celebrates organ donors and their families 
Vanderbilt University Medical Center; by Matt Batcheldor; 5/6/25 
In addition to honoring organ donors and their families, the ceremony salutes hospital staff who care for donors and transplant recipients. Seventy-one individuals donated their organs at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2024, and they and their families were saluted on April 30 at the annual Donate Life Ceremony. “Those 71 donors resulted in 235 lives that were saved,” said C. Wright Pinson, MBA, MD, Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Health System Officer for VUMC. ...  In addition to that, there were another 191 individuals who made the remarkable gift of tissue donation … which restored sight to the blind, enhanced the lives of burn victims, and gave mobility to those with bone and joint injuries.” ... The ceremony, held in the lobby of Langford Auditorium, was part of a national effort to raise awareness about the need for organ and tissue donors.

Illinois plan calls for annual report on hospice, palliative care for prisoners 
WAND TV News, Springfield, IL; by Mike Miletich; 5/8/25 
The Illinois House Restorative Justice & Public Safety Committee passed a bill Thursday [5/8] to require the Illinois Department of Corrections report data on hospice care available for prisoners. Over 1,000 Illinois prisoners are 65 or older, and a growing number of those people are in need of end-of-life care and support services. The Department of Corrections does not have a formal hospice program, as end-of-life care is provided on a prison-by-prison basis. Although, sponsors and advocates said this has led to inconsistent care for prisoners diagnosed with terminal illnesses or who are expected to reach the end of their life.

Newly Available: Improving Dying 
Hospice Foundation of America, Washington, DC; Press Release, contact Lisa Veglahn; 5/7/25 
Virtual reality, physical therapy, music therapy, pet care, and even a haircut are therapeutic, innovative, and practical ways to improve the quality of life for people with terminal illness and are profiled in a new book and continuing education course recently released by Hospice Foundation of America (HFA). “End-of-life care providers are doing amazing work that rarely gets the attention it deserves,” said Amy Tucci, HFA’s president and CEO. “With Improving Dying, HFA’s goal is to recognize their efforts and provide models that can be replicated to enhance care for dying and the bereaved.”

Dying ‘Beautifully’ in the Rio Grande Valley: Rivera-Burciaga embeds end-of-life nursing into UTRGV curriculum: National Nurses Week is May 6-12 
UTRGV, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley - The Newsroom, Rio Grande Valley, TX; by Karen Villarreal; 5/9/25 
Death, for the most part, makes people uncomfortable. But not UTRGV’s Dr. Andrya Rivera-Burciaga.  After a personal loss early in her nursing career drove her to seek advanced certification in hospice and palliative care, she has made it her life’s work to normalize conversations about death and dying.   ... While Rivera-Burciaga’s efforts successfully have woven palliative care into the UTRGV nursing curriculum, her Ph.D. research on the unique cultural perspective of death and dying among Mexican Americans aims to further tailor the care that nurses provide to end-of-life patients in South Texas.  ... Through clinical interviews, Rivera-Burciaga found that many individuals of the Mexican American culture are afraid to die – despite engaging in Día de los Muertos, a celebration of death every November. “We've built a compassionate community for the dying, yet we don't say it by name. Many Mexican Americans in the United States believe that to talk about death invites it. Or, that we don't have time to be depressed, or that even in mourning men don't cry,” she said.

Visiting Nurses Foundation awards over $23K in scholarships to future health care professionals 
The Chronicle, Centralia, WA; Press Release; 5/7/25  
The Visiting Nurses Foundation will award a total of $23,250 of its annual scholarship awards to support local students pursuing careers in health care. These scholarships are a reflection of the foundation's ongoing mission to fund education and assistance for Home Health and Hospice patients and their families. Each scholarship recipient demonstrated not only academic excellence but a deep sense of purpose, a desire to care for others, strengthen communities and make a lasting impact in the lives of patients and families, according to a Visiting Nurses Foundation news release.

[United Kingdom] Assisted dying bill: further protections for nurses proposed 
Nursing Times, London, UK; by Edd Church, source Roger Harris, House of Commons; 5/7/25 
No nurse who declines to aid in assisted dying procedures will be at risk of “any detriment” to their careers under a new amendment to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, the MP behind the draft legislation has claimed. Kim Leadbeater, MP for Spen Valley, announced earlier this week that she would be proposing to extend the “opt-out” provisions in her bill for healthcare workers who work in settings where assisted dying may take place. Ms. Leadbeater said, in a statement released this week, that she understood that “not all people working in and around” healthcare would want to participate in the provision of assisted dying. "Nobody will be at risk of any detriment to their careers if, for any reason at all, they chose not to take part." The bill currently already states that healthcare professionals can conscientiously object to taking part and that employers “must not” subject employees to detriment for exercising this right.

[New Zealand] Nelson Airport Trees of Remembrance returns with new sponsorship tiers to support Nelson Tasman Hospice 
Nelson Tasman Hospice, Nelson, New Zealand; Press Release; 5/9/25 
The much-loved Nelson Airport Trees of Remembrance activation is returning this holiday season, offering businesses a unique opportunity to give back to the community while boosting their brand visibility during the busiest travel period of the year. This year’s campaign introduces an exciting new structure with three sponsorship tiers—Gold, Silver, and Bronze—allowing even more businesses to take part in this heartwarming tradition that supports Nelson Tasman Hospice. The Trees of Remembrance campaign has been a cherished part of the Nelson Tasman community for over 30 years, offering individuals and businesses a meaningful way to honour loved ones while contributing to free hospice services. Sponsored Christmas trees will once again illuminate Nelson Airport from December 2025 through January 2026, spreading festive cheer to the thousands of locals and travellers passing through during the holiday season.
Editor's note: Fall/Winter fund raising plans are surely underway for nonprofit hospices and foundations. What ideas does this article generate? What might you adapt for your community? 

It irritates me to be told how things have always been done. I defy the tyranny of precedent. I cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind. ~ Clara Barton, nurse during the American Civil War, founder of the Red Cross
Editor's note: Clara Barton's words ring true today as we wrap up 2025's National Nurses Week. Mark your calendars for 2026: "National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6th and ends on May 12th, Florence Nightingale's birthday." (American Nurses Enterprise: ANA, ANCC, ANF)