One of only two hospices in Virginia to retain accreditation with the National Institute of Jewish Hospices (NIJH), Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater again join more than 60 hospices nationwide in achieving the recognition.
The accreditation links Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater (HPCT) with NIJH. Staff training, insights on treating terminally ill Jewish patients, and access to unique resources and education about Jewish custom and practice, while caring for a Jewish hospice patient, as well as their family, are provided by NIJH.
The accreditation was earned after one of Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater’s chaplains, Jim Thompson, and Carolyn Lempert, a social worker, attended the NIJH Annual Accreditation Conference in Newark, New Jersey on November 17, 2016.
“The training and resources available through NIJH enables HCPT’s Interdisciplinary teams to provide specialized care to patients of the Jewish faith who are at the end of their life,” Thompson says. “We can better offer culturally sensitive emotional and spiritual support to our patients and their families as they go through this most difficult journey.”
NIJH was founded by Rabbi Dr. Maurice Lamm in 1985 and he served as the organization’s president until his death earlier this year. Since its inception, the NIJH conference has brought together people from hospices across the country in related fields including rabbis, administrators, chaplains of all faiths, psychologists, nurses, bereavement counselors, and social workers for an intensive day of sessions to lecture and discuss all aspects of hospice and the Jewish terminally ill.
“We congratulate Freda H. Gordon Hospice and Palliative Care of Tidewater for earning this important accreditation,” says Rabbi Yitzchok Young, conference coordinator. “HPCT continues to be part of a database of accredited Virginia hospices to which NIJH will refer patients, families, and rabbis when they seek the best care for the terminally ill.”