[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 10, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           HONORING THE LOUISIANA STATE PENITENTIARY HOSPICE

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. RICHARD H. BAKER

                              of louisiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 10, 2000

  Mr. BAKER. Mr. Speaker, this is National Hospital Week, when 
communities across the country celebrate the people that put a human 
face and human touch on health care. This year's theme sums it up 
nicely: ``Touching the Future with Care.'' It recognizes the health 
care workers, volunteers and other health professionals who are there 
24 hours a day, 365 days a year, curing and caring, for their neighbors 
who need them.
  An example of this dedication is the hospice at the Louisiana State 
Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana. The program won the American 
Hospital Association's prestigious Circle of Life Award, which 
recognizes innovation and improvement in end of life care.
  The hospice at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, the largest maximum 
security prison in the United States, provides a humane and caring 
environment to the terminally ill. Inmates dying in the prison hospital 
can now spend more time with their families, be comforted by specially 
trained fellow inmate volunteers, and have their pain managed in a 
setting that is especially wary of the use of drugs. This innovative 
program not only gives the dying their dignity, it gives the inmate 
volunteers an unusual opportunity to connect with another person and 
give their own life some purpose. The program has also become a model 
for other prisons in Louisiana and across the nation.
  Mr. President, I congratulate the hospice at the Louisiana State 
Penitentiary for its award-winning program.

                          ____________________