Blue Skies Hospice Continues Mission of Service Despite Setbacks
Oncology nurse and nurse practitioner, Lisa Guzman, established
and opened Blue Skies Hospice in Hammond, Indiana in 2002. She did so with a
mission service, and a plan to provide palliative care and hospice treatment to
Northwest Indiana and Chicago suburban patients, recently diagnosed with
terminal illnesses, at their most vulnerable moments.
Guzman was inspired into action through her experiences with dying
patients she treated as an oncology nurse who did not have the comfort, care,
and compassion that hospice readily offers the actively dying. “Those patients
held a special place in my heart,” she said. “Yet, there were so many of them
who would have been better treated within a hospice.”
Blue Skies Hospice provides personalized services to improve the
quality of life for patients and their families. A qualified and committed
staff of nurses, social workers, clergy, and volunteers give 24 hour care with
an emphasis on the patient and family’s physical, emotional, and spiritual
well-being.
The rapid and tumultuous changes in American health care policy
and governmental regulations have affected, but not ended, the mission of
service that guides Lisa Guzman and the entire staff of Blue Skies Hospice.
In 2013, Blue Skies Hospice, intrusive and rigid regulations from
the federal government forced the closure of the Blue Skies Hospice House; a
high quality in patient facility that often provided care at no cost to local
patients.
Current Medicare regulations state that a hospice is only able to
have 10 percent of its total patient hours as in patients. Once a hospice
exceeds that limit, they are required to reimburse Medicare, at high cost, for
the payments that it receives. Medicare’s policy of reimbursing general
inpatient care at a higher rate than daily outpatient care also exacerbated the
challenges of Blue Skies.
Closing the doors on the hospice house was sad and frustrating,
most especially for those patients who will no longer have access to its
peaceful facilities.
Blue Skies Hospice, however, is moving forward by adjusting to the
current health care laws and expectations, so that it may continue to serve
Northwest Indiana and the Chicago suburbs. The non-profit organization will use
its new office, located at 649 Mulberry St. in Hammond, to provide palliative
care and symptom management for those living with a terminal disease.
A doctor, nurse, social worker, chaplain, and volunteer network
will commit to giving patients comfort in a way that protects their dignity,
and enhances their families’ peace-of-mind.
Lisa Guzman has also recently opened the doors of Blue Skies
Medical, a new family practice in Lansing, Illinois.
Lisa Guzman and Blue Skies
demonstrate that, even when changes in health care law, policy, and cost
confuse and frustrate many Americans, qualified and caring people can continue
to make a beneficial difference for the lives of many patients and their families.
