| Penitentiary Hospice Receives Award |
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Penitentiary Hospice Program Receives National Award
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 28, 2001
CONTACT: Perrin Damon, 503-945-0925
perrin.p.damon@state.or.us
Web site at http://www.oregon.gov/DOC
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Inmate hospice volunteer Mark Wilson shares a light moment with a terminally ill inmate at Oregon State Penitentiary. The penitentiary´s hospice program was just named Program of the Year by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. |
Oregon State Penitentiary’s Hospice Program was named the 2001 Program of the Year by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC).
The prison hospice program was selected from more than 500 prisons, jails, juvenile detention and confinement facilities participating in the NCCHC accreditation program.
The award was presented earlier this month to the penitentiary’s health services manager, William Cahal, RN, during the opening ceremonies of the 25th National Conference on Correctional Health Care in Albuquerque, NM.
In announcing the award, NCCHC noted that health services staff not only provided compassionate care to dying penitentiary inmates but freely assisted sister facilities in Oregon and other states to establish their own similar programs.
The Hospice Program at the penitentiary is just over two years old. The core of the program are inmate volunteers; they provide assistance to dying inmates much in the same way as community hospice volunteers help terminally ill members of the community.
Each inmate volunteer receives 44 hours of community-standard instruction in death and dying. They are allowed to assist patients with daily living needs and help to enhance the quality of patients’ lives during their final days. There are currently 22 trained inmate volunteers.
More inmates will die in prison due to a number of factors:
• The population is graying; the Oregon Department of Corrections has more than 60 inmates over age 70.
• Criminals, in general, have often not taken care of their health prior to incarceration;
• Criminals, largely because of drug use, are a population at high risk for increased infectious diseases;
• Criminals are at high risk for prior trauma;
• Criminals are being sentenced to longer periods of time in prison.
Twenty-eight inmates have been enrolled in the hospice program since it opened in May 1999. Twenty-four died in prison, two were released back to the community and there are two active cases now.
“There are a lot of ways for an incarcerated person to die, some more comfortable, humane, kinder, and dignified than others” noted Corrections Director Dave Cook.“The OSP Hospice Program has had a positive effect on the penitentiary and the Department of Corrections.
“The inmate population knows that they will be treated compassionately, that they will have control of end-of-life issues, that their pain will be managed and that they will be allowed to die surrounded by their family, with dignity.”
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