Founded in 1982
Name Changed to Upland Hills Hospice in 2001

Lifeline Community Hospice was founded in 1982 by a group of community volunteers and health care providers who saw a need for coordinated services for the dying and their families in Iowa County. It was an interdisciplinary program in which volunteers, hospital personnel, doctors, clergy, home care nurses and a hospice coordinator all worked together to provide for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the dying patient and their family.

Initially, hospice received financial support from Memorial Hospital of Iowa County, Inc, in the form of funding a half-time hospice coordinator position. In February of 1986, when the hospital experienced financial difficulties, this position was cut. For several months emergency management of the program was assumed by the county nurses office. Then in November of 1986, Lifeline Community Hospice entered into an affiliation with Lutheran Social Services in which they agreed to provide the financial support for the hospice program for the first year with decreasing support the second year. The goal was that the Hospice would be completely funded by 1989.

Lutheran Social Services continued to provide some in kind services; however, the direct financial support needed to come completely from community donations. Since 1989 Lifeline Community Hospice had survived with donated funds from a myriad of sources that included fund-raising activities, grants and family contributions. The primary services provided were that of grief counselor, some donated equipment and a volunteer program.

With the difficulty in ongoing fund raising, it was decided to bill a portion of the visit through the Home Health Agency for patients who met the home health care criteria. This necessitated the grief counselor becoming an allied health professional of the hospital.

After the co-coordinators resignation in the fall of 1991, the Hospice board began investigating different ways to provide hospice care to the people of Iowa County. The co-coordinator did agree to continue seeing people but relinquished the administrative and volunteer development portions of the program. As a result of his decreased visibility in the health care environment, patient numbers declined dramatically. Speculation in the community about whether hospice was functional and where monies were going was rampant.

In the summer of 1992 after evaluation the current situation, the Hospice Board decided that is was imperative to hire a half-time coordinator to increase visibility of the program, thus providing more patients with services for the terminally ill. As we expected, the reinstatement was enthusiastically received within the health care community.

Also at this time it became mandatory in the State of Wisconsin that anyone calling themselves a hospice be licensed with the state. Effective June 1, 1992, Lifeline Community Hospice became Lifeline Community Services. It soon became apparent however that while the service was well received, it was unable to provide patients what could be provided through a licensed and Medicare Certified Hospice. As the board searched for ways this could be provided to patients, they considered several alternatives:

• Become a freestanding hospice.
• Ask a current certified hospice provider to deliver care.
• Approach existing agencies to set up a satellite agency in Iowa County for the provision of hospice care.
• Ask Lutheran Social Service if they would consider developing the program.
• Approach the hospital to provide hospice care.

After the investigation of each possibility, the Board decided the most desirable resource was to approach the hospital as it felt that a service provided by local health care professionals would be better received in the community. As a result, in the early spring of 1992, the Board of Directors of Memorial Hospital of Iowa County, Inc., unanimously agreed to support the provision of services.

As of March 3, 1994, Lifeline Community Services achieved Medicare Certification. When completely staffed, the Board decided to take a more supportive and advisory role. After thorough investigation with the Bureau of Quality Control and area hospices, the Board dissolved their governing function on March 4, 1996. The Governing Board became the Board of Memorial Hospital of Iowa County, Inc. and the Community Board serves an advisory function.

1998 was an eventful year. Administration gave permission to create a hospice suite in room 123 near the family lounge. Donations, memorials and community funds allowed us to furnish and decorate the suite for the comfort of patients and their families.

Also, in 1998, we received administrations permission to begin development of a branch in Platteville. Staff were hired and it quickly became a viable region with a stable census. An interdisciplinary team has been created to manage the patient care.

In 2001, Memorial Hospital of Iowa County changed the name of all departments to Upland Hills Health. We notified all providers and the community that we were no longer Lifeline Community Services, but Upland Hills Hospice.

Any organization that is vital is always changing and developing. The years of 2003-2004 saw major changes. The Richland County area had lost their hospice several years ago. In Oct. 2003, we were allowed to begin development there. During this time our director was asked to take over management of Home Care also. Both departments were restructured and now share a director, assistant director and intake/triage nurse. Working together allows both departments to be more co-coordinated and cost effective. They also share a board of directors who are always looking for better ways to serve our communities.