New endowment to help patients manage care through hospice

A Columbus family is making a major donation to Our Hospice of South Central Indiana, setting up the seed money for an endowment to provide palliative care in the community.

The Johnson family of Ruth, Rick, Alice and Jenny are making the lead gift of $1 million to start a $4 million endowment to bring the new medical discipline to Columbus. Laura Leonard, president of Our Hospice, explains the scope of the gift.

The Johnson family said that they have benefited from the care at Columbus Regional Hospital and Our Hospice of South-Central Indiana and wanted to help contribute. Ruth Johnson explains why they want to help bring palliative care to the community:

Palliative care is a new discipline meant to help patients with chronic diseases manage their care, providing a better quality of life for the patients, reducing unnecessary surgeries and hospitalizations .

Leonard, explains the need for palliative care in the community.

Leonard explains that palliative care is a relatively new discipline.

Dr. Diane Danly, medical director for Our Hospice. explains how palliative care works to improve patients’ lives.

Without palliative care, there is a rush between medical crises, she said.

Danly said that there is sometimes a misconception that palliative care is only a cost-savings initiative for the medical care system. But it actually means an improved prognosis for patients.

Our Hospice officials said they expect it will take three to five years to fully fund the endowment. If you would like to make a donation, you can get more information through the Columbus Regional Health Foundation.