StayingConnected

2020 Appeal

nchhha.org | 603.444.5317

DO YOU KNOWABOUT YOUR

HOSPICE BENEFIT?One of our biggest goals

over the past year has been to make our community

aware of the hospice benefit. Most insurances, including Medicare, Medicaid and private insurances, have a hospice benefit that pays for end-of-life expenses with no cost to the patient or family. This benefit covers the cost of medications, medical equipment and supplies, clinician visits, volunteer and spiritual services, and respite. If you or your loved one has a terminal illness you are no longer seeking curative treatment for, you may qualify for the hospice benefit. Please reach out to us at 603.444.5317 for more information. We are here for you.

NORTH COUNTRY HOME HEALTH & HOSPICE AGENCY2020

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Dear community friends, Creating and maintaining unity is the success story of North Country Home Health and Hospice. Approximately three years ago, two North Country home care and hospice agencies were failing. The decision was made to combine the two into one organization, so Northwoods Home Health and Hospice was incorporated

into the North Country Home Health and Hospice Agency (NCHHHA).

The revived agency joined the North Country Healthcare System. Initially, the most important thing the board of directors and senior staff did was to guide staff toward a unified vision and strategy for success. This decision to create unity set the foundation for our most important goal: to improve the quality of life for North Country residents needing home care and hospice services. In addition, the unified financial support of all the North Country hospitals has enabled this agency to succeed.

Being part of North Country Healthcare is important as it provides a network to help us better serve our community. While there is now one less hospital in that system, NCHHHA remains committed to maintaining unity and will continue to work with all North Country hospitals and physicians/providers to ensure the delivery of the high quality of care that the community expects. North Country Healthcare and Littleton Regional Hospital will work together in unison to help maintain the sustainability of NCHHHA.The financial storms we weathered in

the past have subsided. Our success now and in the future will be a result of maintaining a unified approach to the delivery of home care and hospice services to residents throughout the North Country towns that we serve.

I invite you to be part of our continued success by joining me in donating to NCHHHA’s annual appeal.

Roxie SeveranceChair, Board of Directors

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Roxie SeveranceBoard Chair(Whitefield)

Chrissy SmithSecretary

(Littleton)

Pat KellyTreasurer

(Groveton)

Mell Brooks(Littleton)

Brian O’Hearn(Gorham)

John Starr(Bethlehem)

Koren Superchi(Landaff )

Gail Tomlinson(Landaff )

Thomas MeePresident

North Country HealthcareEx Officio

Michael CounterPresident

North Country Home Health& Hospice Agency

Ex Officio

“My purpose is to be, in my action, just and

constitutional; and yet practical, in performing

the important duty, with which I am charged, of

maintaining the unity, and the free principles of our

common country.”ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Expenses $7,480,68064% PERSONNEL & BENEFITS

$4,816,526

2% DEPRECIATION & INTEREST$124,118

34% OTHER$2,540,036

nchhha.org | 603.444.5317

Hello friends, Looking back on the holidays, I am reminded of how grateful I am to work with such a dedicated group of home health and hospice professionals. These special people are here to care for you, your family, your friends and neighbors day and night in the setting of your choice, wherever you call home. We are here to help you get well after a surgery or hospitalization, to help you remain independent in your home and, with utmost reverence, to help hospice patients transition through their final chapter with comfort and dignity. In 2019, the agency reached many milestones. Thanks to you and the generous community support we received, we have become a much more financially sustainable agency than we were a few years ago. Further, and more importantly, the quality of care as measured by Medicare has dramatically improved due to increased training hours for all staff,up 20% in 2019, with increased certifications for nurses in advanced wound care, homecare case management, and in hospice and palliative care.

Looking ahead, these investments in staff will be even more important as our primary payer source, Medicare, completely revamps its quality and reimbursement models, and a new electronic medical record system is implemented for North Country Healthcare (of which we are a part). These are exciting times for home health and hospice as population health really takes hold in the North Country. We are prepared for these challenges and, with your generous support, we look forward to a successful 2020. Sincerely, Mike CounterPresident & CEO

FROM

THE T

HEPR

ESID

ENT &

CEO

“We are here to help you get well after a surgery

or hospitalization, to help you remain independent in your home and, with

utmost reverence, to help hospice patients

transition through their final chapter with

comfort and dignity.”

2019 STATISTICS

Visits by Program30,216 HOME HEALTH

16,208 HOSPICE

7,000 LONG-TERM CARE

Revenue $8,302,82094% INSURANCE REIMBURSEMENT & PRIVATE PAY$7,771,059

2% GRANTS & INVESTMENTS$181,052

4% COMMUNITY SUPPORT$350,709

(Percentages are rounded to the nearest percent.)

NORTH COUNTRY HOME HEALTH & HOSPICE AGENCY2020

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Our hospice program has grown in not only size but quality over the past year. Our focus has been on increasing accessibility, diversifying our team and saturating our staff with educational experiences. Last year we hired Lindsey Foss, PA, and Kevin Botelho, APRN. Their contributions to our program have continually surpassed our expectations. Our patients benefit from their ability to assess them in their home, in a timely manner, and prescribe medications from the home with our new mobile application. Symptoms including pain, nausea, anxiety and restlessness are being addressed by a practitioner within 24 hours of onset. This allows patients to rest more comfortably and families to feel much more supported by the team, knowing this level of care is available 24/7. Lindsey and Kevin have also been

available to offer our nursing staff real-time education, which is invaluable. We have seen our quality measures improve with the addition of the practitioners. We track how many visits we provide patients in the last week of life, which is often the most difficult week of their time with us on hospice. We recognize the importance of wrapping patients

and families in services so they feel supported. I am proud to report that for the past 12 months, we rank above the state and national average in regards to how many visits we provide in the last three days of life.

We have expanded our program to include holistic interventions this year, which has allowed us to achieve a deeper sense of healing for our patients. We have a volunteer and a spiritual counselor who are Certified End of Life Doulas. Our intentions are to help support patients and families using different modalities to treat not only the physical being, but their spiritual and emotional being, as well. We now offer complementary therapies such as aromatherapy, music therapy, massage/reiki, and pet therapy to our patients. We find that some patients benefit just as much, if not

more, from holistic therapies as they do from pharmaceutical management.

Our staff ’s engagement in our hospice program inspires me every day. Over the past year, we’ve had seven staff members receive their Hospice and Palliative Care certification, which speaks to their dedication to our patients. Quality care will always be important to us as an agency. I strongly believe our community deserves a well-rounded hospice program that goes above and beyond for their patients. Thank you for allowing us to care for your loved ones and be apart of such a pivotal moment in your family’s story.

PROGRAM HELPS BEREAVED THROUGH GRIEVING PROCESS

This fall, NCHHHA offered three free Grief Group series led by our social workers in several of our communities—Colebrook, Berlin and Littleton. The seven-week curriculum is designed to help the bereaved explore grief and loss, discuss feelings related to grief, and address stress management, healing and self-care. Please call us for more information and the dates and locations of the next round in the Grief Group series.

Our Hospice Program

Tiffany Haynes-Hicks, MSNDirector of Hospice

nchhha.org | 603.444.5317

LIFE TO THE FULLEST

H elping hospice patients live well is very important to our team. When a patient is admitted into hospice

services we often ask them, “What is most important to you?” and “Is there anything you would like to accomplish?” Many of our patients express the wish to spend as much time with family as possible. Some express a desire to visit a restaurant they love but can no longer access due to physical limitations. Others wish to write letters to their family members, complete coin collections or take a trip to the beach with their family. We have been fortunate enough to assist patients with some of these wishes and we are happy to help them achieve their goals. One of our patients this year had a deep desire to spend some time with horses. Our team was able to arrange for him to spend the day at the Omni Mount Washington Resort, visit the horses in the stable, brush them and drive the horse-drawn carriage. This was a wonderful experience for our patient, his wife and our team! We were so thankful to help him experience something that brought him so much joy.

Annual Butterfly Release“A butterfly to remind me that even though we are apart,your spirit is always with me, forever in my heart.”

JOIN US September 12, 2020 in Littleton, NH, or September 19, 2020 in Berlin, NH, as we release monarch butterflies and honor the life of those we have lost. For more information on how to purchase a butterfly or for event details, please visit nchhha.org or call 603.444.8324.

Richard Wood of Littleton, NH

NORTH COUNTRY HOME HEALTH & HOSPICE AGENCY

At North Country Home Health and Hospice Agency, we value the people that we serve. This includes not just patients, but their families, loved ones and the community at large. We strive every day to go from good to great and beyond.

We expect to be ranked a 4.5 Star (out of 5) agency by Medicare in the October, 2019 reporting period. This is a significant jump from our 2 Star ranking from just a couple of years ago. This would not have been possible without the extreme dedication of our clinical staff, which is made up of physical, occupational and speech therapists, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, licensed nursing assistants and homemakers.

Our staff actively participates in education sessions that help build their skill sets and creates a peer-to-peer learning culture that fosters growth. The nursing staff has participated in advanced in-home infusion and wound care trainings. Nurse Andrea Turner received her national Wound Care certification this spring and is bringing wound

care in the home setting to the next level. Nurse Kristi Pinard designed and is running a research study regarding wound care treatments that may help develop best practice standards for home-based wound care of the future.

Our nursing assistant staff participated in rehabilitation and wound care training that provides another level of treatment that simply makes our care better.

In our commitment to excellence, we believe in exemplary communication standards. The clinicians are provided with real-time data that help them know where their strengths are and where there are opportunities for growth. Our nurse management team provides constant support to help keep everyone moving towards excellence.

Of course, our clinical staff would not be as successful without the dedicated staff that keeps the schedules flowing, medical records accessible and referrals processed. These individuals work tirelessly to process referrals and complete documentation so that this information is available to the clinicians in the field. These unsung heroes actively participate in clinical operations and provide priceless feedback to the clinical management.

Lastly, we continue to work alongside all area healthcare facilities to provide quality care to all citizens of Coös and northern Grafton counties. We are proud of our associations with all levels of the healthcare communities, including nursing homes and private-duty organizations. There is no better gift to give to our neighbors than the gift of collaborative caring.

MEMORY BEARS

In 2019, our volunteers created 497 memory bears and had over 500 hospice home visits. We are always looking for volunteers to join our mission. Please contact Maryanneat 603.444.8324 to learn more.

Serving the CommunityA Commitment to Excellence from a Dedicated Staff

2020

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nchhha.org | 603.444.5317

When Lindsey Foss, PA, was an undergraduate on her way to earning her degree as a physician assistant, she worked part-time as a homemaker for Home Health and Hospice during her summer vacations and Christmas holidays, with never an inkling that she would return to the agency years later as a physician assistant.

“At the time, I enjoyed getting to know the patients and I thought the nurses were awesome as they had to adjust to different situations each day and solve a variety of problems,” she says. Fast-forward some 15 years or so, and today Lindsey uses her compassion, knowledge and skills as a physician assistant and member of the hospice care team to help

her patients at NCHHHA navigate end-of-life issues.

The Lunenburg, VT, native received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees (Bachelor of Health Science, Entry Level Master Physician Assistant Program in 2006 and Master of Health Science, Physician Assistant in 2008) from Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.

In her first job as a physician assistant in thoracic surgery at a Boston hospital, she often thought that the medical team should be providing additional support to patients beyond the surgery that was performed, but “I knew nothing about hospice at the time,” she says.

Following the births of her son and daughter, she worked on a per diem basis and, in 2018, with her youngest starting school, she interviewed for a position that involved both family medicine and hospice care. Today, she is employed two days per week at NCHHHA in hospice care, two days per week at Weeks Medical Center in family medicine, and one day per week teaching health and physical education

classes at a private pre K–6 elementary school in Lancaster.

“I wasn’t looking for work in hospice, but when I joined the team at North Country Home Health and Hospice, I realized that hospice care was the missing link in health care,” she says. “Typically in medicine we are taught to find a cure, and are not taught how to support patients at the end of their lives.”

She sees both sides of patient care in her current positions. “I treat and care for children and adults in my family medicine practice, and with hospice I can help them make the right choices for themselves at the end of their lives, based on their needs and concerns.”

One of the things she loves most about hospice care is making strong connections with the patients and their families. “I meet them where they are and see how our team can help. Everyone is so different, with varying diagnoses, family members and personalities. It’s gratifying to know we can help them during this difficult time.”

Physician Assistant DiscoveredHospice is the Missing Link in Health Care

Lindsey Foss, PA

COÖS COUNTY

N O R T H C O U N T R Y H O M E H E A L T H & H O S P I C E A G E N C Y

DO YOU KNOWABOUT YOUR

HOSPICE BENEFIT?

2020

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536 Cottage Street

Littleton, NH 03561

NORTHERNGRAFTON COUNTY

TERRITORY NORTH COUNTRYHOME HEALTH & HOSPICEAGENCY SERVESThank you

NORTH COUNTRY HOME HEALTH & HOSPICE AGENCY would like to thank the communities, businesses and residents of Coös and northern Grafton counties for their continued financial support of our organization. Without your assistance, we would not be able to provide the necessary extensive care to our region.

TO OUR PATIENTS AND LOVED ONES OF THE PATIENTS WHO WE HAVE LOST, we offer our deepest gratitude for allowing us to be part of your lives. Our goal of providing a healing environment in whatever capacity is a very profound and vulnerable request, and we could notdo it without your trust in us.

301,908 milesDRIVEN BY NORTH COUNTRYHOME HEALTH & HOSPICE AGENCY CAREGIVERS.