Providing Compassionate Care – Together
Each year, Tri-Cities Chaplaincy helps people in our community complete their end-of-life journey in comfort and dignity, regardless of their ability to pay. YOU are an essential part of making that happen. In addition to ensuring that all who need our care can receive it, your generosity helps provide patients and families with chaplain, volunteer, and bereavement care.
These three critical services are required by Medicare, but we do not receive reimbursement for them — at a substantial cost to our agency. Your generous investment makes these services possible.
Please consider making a gift to the Hospice Care Campaign today. Your gifts ensure that patients and families receive exemplary spiritual, emotional, and physical care during life’s most challenging times.
Learn more about our unreimbursed services.
These services are only possible because of your generosity.
Chaplain Services
Our hospice care chaplains serve all people regardless of religious affiliation, including those with no faith, and encourage the spiritual resources and faith tradition or personal philosophy of each individual. They help with life changes, decision making, relationships, values and focus on whatever is most important to the patient. Our chaplains meet hospice patients and their families where they are and provide hope, peace and connection.
Volunteer Services
Our compassionate team of trained volunteers share their time and talents with hospice patients and their families. They play an integral role in helping us serve others with impeccable physical, emotional and spiritual care. Volunteers visit hospice patients in their homes and at the Hospice House and offer help, comfort and companionship. Volunteers sit and visit with patients, help with housekeeping or provide temporary relief to caregivers. Medicare requires that volunteers provide at least 5% of all direct patient care; with the commitment of our incredible volunteers – and with your generous support – we exceed that requirement year after year.
Bereavement Services
We care for those that have suffered loss. Our hospice bereavement services ensure that loved ones receive guidance, support and a helping hand for a full year following a hospice death. Our bereavement team focuses on tools, resources and counsel for adjusting to a new normal and finding meaning again. Chaplaincy is able to offer our bereavement program to hospice families and anyone in our community wanting to benefit from these services. We also offer the grief care services of Cork’s Place for kids and their adults that have experienced the death of a loved one. Because of your generosity, all of these programs are provided at no cost to participants.
“The chaplain who went to see her the night before made all the difference for Angela’s spirit. Thank you for treating my best friend with dignity and grace.”
“Chaplaincy’s hospice team was amazing… What a wonderful service they provide. I am going to see about volunteering. The whole experience, while heartbreaking, would’ve been even worse without them.”
“I came to the grief support group and connected well with everybody. I felt very safe during our meetings.”
CELEBRATING OUR HISTORY
SERVING OUR COMMUNITY
Tri-Cities Chaplaincy has been part of the Tri-Cities community for over 50 years. Since the day in September of 1971 when four members of Richland Lutheran Church had an idea for a program that would provide outreach to people in jails and nursing homes and people coping with dying or the loss of a loved one, we have worked hard to serve the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs our community.
Learn more about our history, decade by decade.
Our chaplains, circa 1978. Standing (left–right): Kent Schaufelberger, Gary Rose, John Moody. Seated: Richard Nordgren and Cathy Herderiey
1990s – Community Spirit
In 1996, Chaplain Tim Ledbetter offered a prayer for a new hospice house and counseling center which...
1980s – The Hospice Movement
The story of the Chaplaincy was once summarized as follows, “…our Lord threw together the elemental gifts of a...
The 2000s – Expand and Contract
Chaplaincy’s mission has been to serve others with exemplary spiritual, emotional and physical care. Throughout this year, we have walked through Chaplaincy’s 50-year journey of growth, and we end with the events from the year 2000 to present. Looking Back on Where We...
“The Chaplaincy provides an opportunity for connection and flow of communication between the medical community, the religious community and the social services community.”
– Rev. John Moody, 1973
