[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 146 (Monday, September 15, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1789]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING 30 YEARS OF HOSPICECARE IN SOUTHERN WISCONSIN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TAMMY BALDWIN

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 15, 2008

  Ms. BALDWIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 30th 
anniversary of HospiceCare Inc. From its humble beginnings as a small 
grassroots operation serving a handful of patients in Southern 
Wisconsin, Dane County Hospice, now HospiceCare, has grown into an 
organization that serves over 400 patients each day throughout the area 
in a variety of settings. HospiceCare's Madison and Janesville 
locations maintain a staff of more than 500 professionals and nearly 
1,000 volunteers.
  The term ``hospice'' originates from the root word ``hospitality.'' 
It is with this foundation in mind that HospiceCare seeks to carry out 
its mission of providing quality end-of-life care to patients and 
families coping with life-limiting illnesses. HospiceCare's 
comprehensive and collaborative team of professionals combines expert 
pain and symptom management with compassionate care to ensure that 
individuals diagnosed with life-limiting illnesses live the end of 
their lives in comfort and with dignity, whether they are in their own 
home or in a hospital, community based residential facility, nursing 
home, or assisted living facility.
  Since its founding in 1978, HospiceCare has become an essential 
component of our community's fabric. As an innovator, educator, and 
above all, a quality care provider, HospiceCare has shown the way to a 
more peaceful end-of-life experience for a growing number of patients 
and their loved ones. In 1995, HospiceCare merged with Janesville Team 
Care to bring HospiceCare's brand of quality and commitment to the Rock 
County area. In the last decade alone, HospiceCare has planned, built, 
and opened the Don and Marilyn Anderson HospiceCare Center, the only 
freestanding, inpatient hospice unit in Dane County, and more recently, 
the Ellen & Peter Johnson HospiceCare Residence to provide care to 
patients in a residential setting on the HospiceCare campus.
  These accomplishments have brought HospiceCare closer to achieving 
its long-term vision of ``building a community in which exceptional 
end-of-life care is accepted, expected and available to all.'' I am 
proud to stand with HospiceCare in order to make that vision a reality.
  For 30 years of continued service and commitment to families across 
Wisconsin, I congratulate HospiceCare Inc. and wish all those involved 
many more years of success in the future.

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