THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9606030085
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 62 lines
After 10 years in Portsmouth, Edmarc Hospice for Children will be moving to the campus of Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk late in July.
The headquarters relocation was prompted by a collaboration between Edmarc, the only strictly pediatric hospice in the Southeast, and King's Daughters.
Beginning July 22, Edmarc will subcontract its skilled home nursing care services through King's Daughters' home health services.
As part of the agreement, Edmarc will move its offices from Parkview United Methodist Church in Portsmouth to the second floor of the Discovery Care Center on Redgate Ave. The hospital is providing the new offices rent-free.
``The reality of the world dictated this move,'' the Rev. Clement Dickey said.
Dickey, chairman of the Edmarc board of directors, said managed-care plans have severely curtailed insurers' reimbursement for skilled home nursing care, a necessary component of the hospice program.
``About two years ago we realized the problem was coming, and, like many other small groups, we needed to move toward an affiliation with a larger group to have the clout to keep our programs going,'' Dickey said. ``Children's Hospital has a strong kinship with us philosophically and seemed to be the logical choice.''
``We have never offered hospice care before, and the popularity of home hospice care for adults and children is growing,'' said Richard D. Knox Jr., King's Daughters' senior vice president. ``We are trying to be an intregrated health-care network, not just a hospital, and the hospice will add to our offerings.''
Although the hospital will hire and assign Edmarc nurses and maintain the hospice's medical records, Edmarc will remain an independent agency with an individual identity, budget and fund raising. Dickey said the hospice's $250,000 annual budget is raised through fund-raisers, the United Way and other contributions.
Edmarc is a nonprofit agency that provides services to families with dying children or children at risk of dying. Services include nursing, social work, community education, special family events, sibling and parent support groups, volunteer support and bereavement care.
Edmarc Executive Director Julie Sligh said the hospice works with about 100 patients each year and with about 30 patients at any one time. It is the oldest home-based pediatric hospice in the country and serves the area from Williamsburg to Virginia Beach and west to Franklin.
Edmarc began in 1977 in Suffolk at the urging of a young pastor at Suffolk Presbyterian Church, Ed Page. Page, himself a cancer patient, saw the problems a family in his congregation faced when their child, Marcus Hogge, was also diagnosed as terminally ill.
The Hogge family and Page approached the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church U.S. to request funding for a pediatric hospice. With that grant Edmarc, named for Page and little Marcus, was created in 1978.
Among those who regret Edmarc's move from Portsmouth are the members of Parkview United Methodist Church. The struggling church will miss the $600 monthly donation from Edmarc that covered two thirds of the church's utility bills.
``Their departure will create a financial hardship,'' the Rev. Dan Spaugh, Parkview's pastor, said. ``If another non-profit agency would move in on the same arrangement, we would welcome them.'' by CNB