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About Us
Hospice of the
Prairie, Inc. was formed in the spring of 1980 by the District 19
Kansas State Nurses Association with a grant from the Area Agency on Aging. The volunteer organization incorporated in June
of that same year. Non-profit, tax-exempt status under the Internal
Revenue Code 501 (c) (3) was later obtained.
Hospice services were
initially provided by professional nurses, social workers, ministers,
and other persons interested in promoting the hospice concept. All
services were free of charge.
In 1982, Rev. Jim
Hossler developed monthly bereavement support group meetings and
provided individual spiritual counseling for hospice clients and their
families, when needed.
After several years of
consideration, on March 12, 1991, the Board of Directors made the
decision to seek Medicare certification. A full-time Executive
Director was hired May 6, 1991, to pursue that goal. Licensure
and Medicare certification was obtained October 31, 1991, and Hospice
of the Prairie, Inc. became the eighth hospice program in the state of
Kansas to be certified.
Home Health licensure
was acquired December 1, 1995. Medicare certification for Home Health
care specializing in patients with a life-limiting illness was granted March 13, 1996.
In the summer of 2002,
the home health care program was expanded to include patients whose
illness is not life-limiting, and the program was christened "Prairie
Home Health."
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