St. Luke's Hospice/Palliative Care Program records

Planning for the St. Luke's Hospice/Palliative Care Program began in 1973 with the formation of the Hospice at St. Luke's Committee, chaired by the Reverend Carleton Sweetser. By 1975, the group had raised the necessary funds to initiate a pilot project which became St. Luke's Hospice. In 1980, Patrice O'Connor was appointed as the first and only hospice team coordinator. The hospice team sought to augment the medical care given to terminally ill patients by focusing on pain control and disease symptom management. St. Luke's Hospice was the second hospice program in the United States, and the first to be incorporated into an existing medical center. The hospice committee and team developed a method of care which provided several services for their patients, including in-patient care, home care, clinical consulting, and bereavement counseling for families. Their approach came to be known as the "scatterbed method," which was modeled by several hospice programs developed throughout the United States. The hospice also served as an educational center for the hospice movement, hosting several workshops and conferences on hospice issues. In 1986, the hospice changed its name to the St. Luke's Palliative Care Program, to reflect the wide variety of services provided and to comply with changing state regulations. The program was forced to close in 1990 due to hospital center funding cuts.

Planning for the hospice program at St. Luke's Hospital Center in New York, New York formally began in 1973 with the formation of the Hospice at St. Luke's Committee, chaired by the Reverend Carleton Sweetser. The goal of the committee was to establish a program for the treatment of the terminally ill which augmented the medical care given to these patients in the hospital by focusing on pain control and management of disease symptoms. Using funding provided by outside sources, most notably the United Thank Offering of the Women of the Episcopal Church, the committee hired a staff and began a pilot project in 1975 which became St. Luke's Hospice. In 1980, the hospice began to get two-thirds of its funding from the budget of St. Luke's Hospital Center. At this time, Patrice O'Connor was appointed as the first hospice team coordinator, a position she held until the closing of the program.

St. Luke's Hospice was the second hospice established in the United States and the first to be incorporated into an existing medical center. The methods developed by the hospice team were directly influenced and inspired by the work of Cicely Saunders and St. Christopher's Hospice in London, England. The approach St. Luke's developed provided several services to patients and their families including in-patient care, home care, clinic care, and bereavement counseling. This system of providing palliative care in several different locations both in and out of the medical center came to be known as the "scatterbed method," and was modeled by many hospice programs established throughout the United States.

The St. Luke's Hospice also became well known as an educational center for hospice training. Members of the hospice team routinely gave presentations at conferences and published articles in professional journals. The hospice also held many workshops, and in 1984 they hosted a series of thirteen half-day conferences devoted to hospice care for cancer patients.

In 1986, the name of the hospice was changed to St. Luke's Palliative Care Program to reflect the broad range of services provided and to comply with changes in the New York State Department of Health and Human Services regulations. Throughout the years, the Hospice/Palliative Care Program received many awards, including the Mayor's Volunteer Service Award and the Eleanor Roosevelt Community Service Award, both in 1984. The Palliative Care Program closed in 1990 as the result of hospital center funding cuts.