[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 159 (Wednesday, November 12, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2342-E2343]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE HOSPICE OF SAINT JOHN, LAKEWOOD, CO

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. SCOTT McINNIS

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 12, 1997

  Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, it is a high honor and privilege to allow 
my colleagues to know of the wonderful work being done by the Hospice 
of Saint John in Lakewood, Colorado. Twenty years ago, in 1977, this 
program was founded by Fr. Paul von Lobkowitz, a priest of the 
Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta, to serve 
the sick and the dying. This month the Hospice of Saint John celebrates 
twenty years of caring. In those years its staff of professionals have 
cared for more than 12,000 dying patients and their families.
  The Hospice of Saint John was only the second in-patient hospice 
program to be opened in the United States. It has stood the test of 
time in a medical environment that favors the bigger corporations. The 
Hospice of Saint John continues to be independently run and directed by 
the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem and its professed and lay members.
  The Hospice of Saint John was the first hospice program in the state 
to provide care for AIDS patients when many other programs of the day 
refused to care for them. Today the Hospice's commitment to AIDS 
patients and their families and friends remains as strong as ever, as 
does its care for every one of its patients. Many of its patients 
include young men and women whose lives are cut short by ravaging 
diseases. In its twenty years the Hospice of Saint John has never 
turned away a single patient for a lack of financial means.

[[Page E2343]]

Remarkably, it has never received a dime of federal money other than 
Medicare and Medicaid funds.
  This program is worthy of our collective recognition. For the past 
twenty years Fr. Paul and his staff at the Hospice of Saint John have 
cared for those who we sometimes tend to forget. They have toiled in 
the trenches for all humanity. They deserve our respect and support and 
on this occasion of their twenty years of dedicated service to my state 
I ask you to join with me in saluting them and their service to us all.

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