[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 19 (Thursday, February 13, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E270]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            SAN DIEGO HOSPICE: 20 YEARS OF EXEMPLARY SERVICE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BOB FILNER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 13, 1997

  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, I rise today to pay tribute 
to San Diego Hospice. In 1977, local citizens, clergy members, and 
medical professionals, motivated by a shared concern for the plight of 
terminally ill patients, joined together to create the San Diego 
Hospice.
  As one of the first hospice programs in the country, San Diego 
Hospice set the standard by which we provide care for the terminally 
ill and their families. Now caring for more than 1,600 people a year, 
San Diego Hospice is not only an integral part of our regional health 
care system, it is an innovator, constantly working to better its 
outreach and care.
  San Diego Hospice has effectively employed San Diego's large medical 
community to foster education, and it was the first hospice to bring 
palliative medicine into the curriculum of a medical school--the 
University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine.
  San Diego Hospice continues to develop cutting edge programs that 
serve as an example to other hospices. These include the Acute Care 
Center, the Center for Palliative Studies, and exceptional programs in 
pediatrics and bereavement support.
  Mr. Speaker, each and every day the San Diego Hospice brightens the 
lives of terminally ill patients and their loved ones. San Diego has 
been blessed by the care provided by the San Diego Hospice, and I am 
sure that it will continue to serve as an excellent model of people 
helping people and working together for the betterment of their shared 
community.

                          ____________________