Providence Hospice is expanding its end-of-life care and bereavement services by opening an office in the Spokane area.

In January, the Washington state Department of Health issued Providence a Certificate of Need to expand Medicare- and Medicaid-certified hospice services to the residents of Spokane County.

Cheryl Cline, executive director of Providence Hospice Washington, says that Providence Hospice provides an interdisciplinary approach to care in the last six months of a patient’s life.

“There is nursing, social work, chaplaincy,” she says. “We provide certified nursing assistants to help with bathing and grooming.”

Providence Hospice also provides grief and bereavement services for families. Cline says that after the loss of a loved one, families can receive 13 months of follow-up care.

Providence Hospice Spokane will begin accepting patients around the end of June, Cline says. While the agency will operate out of an office at Providence’s existing Visiting Nurses Association Home Health facility, at 1000 N. Argonne Road, in Spokane Valley, services will be provided at the homes of the patients.

“Hospice is a Medicare benefit that people receive in their homes, and home is wherever somebody lives. So sometimes it is a private residence, sometimes it is a facility,” says Cline.

The Spokane agency will have all new hires, including a hospice director and 10 to 15 caregivers to start, and the agency also is seeking volunteers, she says.

Mary Beth Walker, director of communication at Providence Home & Community Care, says Providence Hospice Spokane is expected to care for an average of 14 patients per day. 

She estimates that the agency will serve a total of 80-plus patients by the end of this year. That number will grow as the agency’s services grow and more caregivers are hired, she says.

Cline says, “There are many other Providence services in Spokane County, and to be able to bring hospice services extends that continuum of care that we’re really proud and honored to provide to this community.”

Providence Hospice Spokane is part of Providence Home & Community Care, a division of Renton, Washington-based Providence Health & Services, which also operates Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Providence Holy Family Hospital, in Spokane.

Providence Hospice currently serves 10 counties in western Washington.