The History of Hospice of Lubbock

Hospice of Lubbock was the region's first and original hospice organization within this 19 county area of West Texas. Incorporated in July 1986, Hospice of Lubbock admitted its first patient in October 1987 and, to date, has served approximately 8500 patients and their families.

Hospice, as a concept of care for persons with terminal illnesses, was initially developed in Lubbock as a component of Visiting Nurse Service, Inc., a home health agency in the region during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Local leaders of the hospice movement (like R.N., Lee Battey and Dr. O.W. English) networked with the National Hospice Organization and other developing hospices throughout the nation. The interdisciplinary team and a corps of trained volunteers began providing home hospice care in 1982 and received support from the medical community.

In 1985 Visiting Nurse Service was sold to Methodist Hospital. The sale did not include the hospice component. The staff and board members, whose primary interest was hospice care, re-grouped and began work to incorporate Hospice of Lubbock as a not-for-profit entity. Community support was overwhelming with fundraising and local awareness efforts. Hospice of Lubbock quickly became licensed by the Texas Department of Health and was Medicare certified in 1986. In 1987, it became the first hospice in Texas to be certified by Medicaid and contributed significantly to the development of Medicaid regulations.

Initially, the Hospice of Lubbock Board of Directors met at the Lubbock Episcopal Diocese Conference Center. Dr. O.W. "Babe" English offered his home on 19^th Strees as the first office of Hospice of Lubbock and the staff and board worked from his basement prior to expanding into his dining room and living room. Hospice of Lubbock experienced phenomenal growth which required it to relocate to two additional sites before being located at its current address at 13^th and Slide Road.

In 1999, Hospice of Lubbock became the desired local hospice to be included in the Covenant Health System following the merger of St. Mary of the Plains Hospital and Methodist Hospital, both of which were enormous financial supporters of Hospice of Lubbock from its inception. On February 4, 2000, the Covenant Health System announced that the Board of Directors of Hospice of Lubbock, Inc. voted unanimously to become a member of the Covenant Health System, effective immediately. This arrangement provided the final piece to the promise of the Covenant health System to provide a "full continuum of services, from cradle to grave." Sister Claire Olivier, Covenant's senior vice president of sponsorship in 200 stated "...the arrangement helps meet one of Covenant's strategic goals: to collaborate with the community to identify, understand and respond to community needs impacting health and quality of life. Our two organizations have similar missions and philosophies, and this arrangement will help us both better meet our most important goal - to take better care of our patients."

In July 2007, Hospice of Lubbock formed the Hospice of Lubbock Foundation in partnership with the Covenant Foundation and began another era of cooperation within the Health System. As a result of this move, the Hospice Foundation changed the Board of Directors from an operational board to a development board with new goals, projects and vision for the future of the Hospice of Lubbock Foundation.

Hospice of Lubbock was a pioneer in the region by providing home hospice care to persons with HIV/AIDS, pediatric patients and persons with end-stage diseases other than cancers. A strong and effective bereavement program has always been emphasized at Hospice of Lubbock and in the fall of 2005 Hospice of Lubbock opened the region's first Grief Recovery Center. The Grief Recovery Center serves as another part of Hospice of Lubbock's community outreach commitment with free-of-charge grief counseling for all members of the communities it serves.

From its early beginning in 1987 through today, Hospice of Lubbock has remained the only non-profit hospice dedicated to both pediatric and adult care serving all hospice eligible patients regardless of ability to pay.