Horizon Hospice & Palliative Care Story
Beginnings
Loren and Beth Guske were so captivated by the stories that they had to get involved. Barbara, Beth’s mother and a nurse with extensive experience in nursing home and hospice care, regaled them with compelling accounts of how effective support during this last chapter of life can make all the difference in the world. After decades of serving in leadership roles within healthcare, Barbara clearly understood that Spokane residents deserve a choice in hospice providers. Creating a second program would provide healthy competition, making all providers better and ensuring that patients and families could maintain control of important decisions.
“Find out what makes your heart sing and create your own music.”
– Mac Anderson
Challenges
“Commitment is not measured by starting well, but by persevering through adversity.”
No great success is achieved without overcoming significant obstacles. Following a lengthy and expensive application process, Washington State denied our first application for a hospice license. It would have been far easier, less risky and less painful to stop there. Fortunately for thousands of grateful patients and families, Loren, Beth, Barbara, and her husband Ed, took a deep breath, evaluated the depth of their commitment, and appealed the decision. That was just what the State was looking for – an unswerving commitment; they approved the license and our doors were opened. We now view obstacles as opportunities to grow.
Excellence
“Excellence is a habit, not an act. It takes practice and perseverance.”
The foundation of Horizon is a commitment to unparalleled patient care. Because our community recognized this distinctive quality, we continue to be amazed and humbled by the word-of-mouth support and continued growth we experience. From humble beginnings in 1998, our staff has built on that foundation and achieved a very rare level of excellence. Like all health care providers, we receive regular inspections from both State and Federal surveyors, who closely evaluate the quality of our care and our operations. Following the most recent inspection, we are grateful to receive perfect scores from both Washington State Department of Health and the Federal CMS Medicare Program. In layman’s terms, this means there were zero deficiencies in our care. Receiving a “Perfect Score” on our report card only reconfirms our commitment to provide the most compassionate and professional care possible.
Vision
“We exist to help people live life to the fullest, one day at a time.”
Our client Tom had not spoken to his daughter for 19 years, and he didn’t know why. When our social worker Christine heard that, she helped develop a Facebook page in order to unite Tom with his estranged daughter. After connecting through social media, Christine helped arrange a long overdue meeting. When they finally met after almost two decades of separation, Tom was overwhelmed and exclaimed “oh, my baby!” There were not many dry eyes that day. This story reflects the heartbeat of why Horizon Hospice and Palliative Care exists.
Culture
According to the Medicare Claims Report and CMS Quality Data, Horizon Hospice and Palliative Care ranks #1 in Washington State when it comes to the most visits given to patients in their last week of life. This is the most important time for hospice care to be delivered, so we are humbly grateful to receive this recognition
You have the right to choose the best hospice care provider for your loved one