St. Luke's Hospice has been providing compassionate end-of-life care, bereavement care and counseling for patients and their families for 30 years. Hospice supports patients and families during one of life's most difficult and challenging times. While most people don't want to think about dying or death, it is an inevitable part of every life.

        In 1986, St. Luke's Hospice formed an interdisciplinary team of professional staff and volunteers to provide end-of-life care in the community, emphasizing quality of life and ensuring patients live out their last days to the fullest.

        Currently, St. Luke's Hospice serves more than 1,650 patients and more than 4,000 family members every year. St. Luke's Hospice currently employs more than 150 professionals and volunteers and serves patients and their families throughout Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Berks, Upper Bucks, Montgomery, Monroe and Schuylkill counties.

        In addition to the organization's 30th anniversary, St. Luke's Hospice is also commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Hospice House, the only free-standing hospice facility in the Lehigh Valley. Just one short decade ago, the house, located on Black River Road in Bethlehem, was constructed entirely with philanthropic community support. The 14-bed Hospice House is a beautiful homelike setting where patients and their families can make a favorite meal, sit in the gardens, listen to the harpist, or enjoy their own special music. In the Hospice House, patients needing additional symptom management that cannot be controlled in their current setting, receive the care of an entire team of hospice professionals 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

        While the Hospice House is a wonderful resource for the community, ultimately hospice is a type of care, not a place. Most patients receive hospice care wherever they live – usually in their own home or a family member's home, but also in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Hospice care allows patients to remain in familiar surroundings with family and friends nearby. Hospice team members visit according to an established plan of care that meets the patients individualized needs. Care is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

        In observance of these two anniversaries, St. Luke's Hospice is raising awareness for hospice care. Many people do not understand the support and benefits available through hospice care and families typically avoid end-of-life conversations until it is too late.  St. Luke's Hospice is committed to advocating home hospice care, inpatient hospice care and bereavement services by educating the community and providing families access to hospice services.

        "Our goal is to ensure that all patients and family members in need of our services - now and in the future - can receive the physical, emotional and spiritual support they need as they approach end-of-life and journey through bereavement," says Linda Moller, RN, MSN- St. Luke's Hospice Director.