Founded in 1982, West Georgia Hospice is focused on quality of life once curative measures are no longer effective or appropriate.
Patients are cared for by a multi-disciplinary team of dedicated professionals who will help formulate a comprehensive, personalized plan of care for each patient facing a life-limiting illness. Their expertise in symptom management and pain control will help ensure that patients live as comfortably as possible. We also work collaboratively with patients’ personal physician to ensure seamless delivery of care.
West Georgia Hospice, a division of WellStar West Georgia Medical Center, is licensed by the state of Georgia, certified by Medicare and Medicaid and is accredited by The Joint Commission. West Georgia Hospice has been named a 2013 Hospice Honors recipient, a prestigious award recognizing hospice agencies providing the best patient care as rated by the patient’s caregiver.
West Georgia Hospice has served more than 7,000 patients since its founding.
Providing Compassionate Care
West Georgia Hospice works with family members to manage a patient’s symptoms and pain and ensure that the patient��s physical, emotional and spiritual needs are met. These services are provided where the patient lives, whether it is at home, a nursing home, assistive living or at Hospice LaGrange, our inpatient hospice house.
Hospice Services:
- A registered nurse is on-call and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide symptom management by phone or by visit.
- A registered nurse visits weekly and as needed. The Hospice RN educates the patient and the caregivers in caring for their loved one at home, how their disease will progress, and on signs and symptoms to watch for. The nurse will provide information on medications and treatments, and offer guidance in helping the person have the best quality of life in the time that remains.
- Social worker services such as supportive counseling, resource connection and end-of-life care planning.
- Chaplain services.
- A certified nursing assistant for personal care.
- Medication required for pain control and comfort delivered to your home.
- Equipment and other materials necessary for care and comfort related to the terminal diagnosis.
- Lifeline emergency response system to allow patients more independence.
- Support services such as music therapy, aromatherapy and relaxation.
- Respite at Hospice LaGrange so families have a break from caregiving.
- Compassionate, trained hospice volunteers who can visit, run errands, or provide other special care and assistance.
Your Hospice Team
West Georgia Hospice has more than 50 skilled professionals who deliver caring, compassionate care on a daily basis. From administrators to nurses, housekeeping to food service, each of our staff members is uniquely qualified to serve our patients and their loved ones in their time of need.
In addition to the professional staff, there are more than 120 specially trained volunteers who provide clerical and administrative support as well as visits and support to the patients and families in their homes and at Hospice LaGrange.
Our director, Kristie Gilmore, BSW, LNHA, is continuing the dream of West Georgia Hospice started more than 30 years ago. Our medical director consults with your physician to coordinate delivery of personalized hospice care.
Registered nurses (RN), licensed practical nurses (LPN) and certified nursing assistants (CNA) help relieve pain, manage symptoms and provide personal care. Licensed master social workers (LMSW) help connect patients to community resources, offer supportive counseling, encourage storytelling and assist with end of life care planning.
Chaplains assist with spiritual and end of life concerns, and bereavement coordinators oversee group and personal counseling for on-going grief support. Volunteers offer companionship, run errands and provide brief respite when appropriate.
Bereavement Care
Our caring staff continues its support for families following the death of a loved one. Trained grief counselors will call or visit the family to help determine any needs they may have in adjusting to the death of their loved one.
Working with the family, special care is designed for each main caregiver in order to support them in the year following their loved one’s death.
Hospice volunteers make regular phone calls to family members to determine how the caregiver is doing and to offer support by phone. Our bereavement coordinator is always available to discuss any specific needs or assistance needed to provide appropriate bereavement care to the family.
Family and friends may attend a weekly grief support group that is free of charge and open to anyone in the community. Children who have had a loss by death in the last year are also welcome to attend our annual grief camp, Camp Dogwood, free of charge.
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West Georgia Hospice Camp Dogwood
Helping Children Deal with Grief
Camp Dogwood is a free, overnight grief camp for children who have completed kindergarten through seventh grade from Troup, Coweta, Heard, Meriwether and Harris counties and have experienced the loss of a loved one. Created in 1997 as an outreach of West Georgia Hospice, it now serves 60 children each summer with the help of about 80 volunteers.
Our next camp will be held from Friday to Sunday, June 7—9, 2019.
Camp Dogwood is held at Georgia Sheriffs' Camp Pioneer, a beautiful, spacious, well-equipped facility located on Young’s Mill Road about three miles outside of LaGrange. Through art, games and stories, campers will be helped to:
- Realize that all people grieve.
- Discover healthy ways to deal with grief.
- Find positive ways of remembering their loved one.
Children can learn healthy coping skills all while enjoying fun activities such as swimming, horseback riding and more!
School counselors may fill out a referral form for a child. This referral does not reserve a spot for a child at camp. After receiving this referral, our team will contact the parent/guardian and send them a camp application to complete if they are interested. Thank you for your referral!
Parents and guardians may fill out and submit an application on behalf of their child.
West Georgia Hospice Charitable Fund
All patients have a right to comfort and quality of life throughout their care. Your generous gifts to West Georgia Hospice through the West Georgia Health Foundation help ensure that all families in need have access to comprehensive and compassionate hospice care, regardless of their ability to pay.
For over 35 years, West Georgia Hospice has helped thousands of families and people with serious, chronic or a terminal illnesses face end-of-life with comfort and dignity.
Your gift provides more than just funding. It offers hope and healing to local families at a time of great need. Your donation helps West Georgia Hospice and Hospice LaGrange support the physical, emotional, spiritual well-being of our patients; provide bereavement support services for families; and extend hospice’s charitable mission through a variety of community outreach and education programs.
Donations can be made in memoriam or as a living tribute to honor friends, relatives or colleagues, or to commemorate a special occasion.
Donate by Mail
Donate now by downloading our donation form.
Mail your Gift to
West Georgia Hospice
1510 Vernon Road
LaGrange, GA 30240
For any questions or for more information, send us an email or call (706) 845-3905.
West Georgia Hospice Volunteers
Helping People Live
Hospice volunteers provide companionship to our patients living with a serious illness and help their family and caregivers in many ways. Our volunteers also assist our staff with clerical work, fund raising, community outreach, patient celebrations, and other areas of hospice. Volunteers must be 21 years of age.
We rely on volunteer support to provide exceptional end of life care to our patients and their families in the patient’s home, assisted living facility, nursing home, or in Hospice LaGrange, our hospice house. By using your talents, gifts, and interests, you can be a blessing to someone in their final months and weeks of life.
Begin the process of becoming a Hospice Volunteer.
Volunteer Training
West Georgia Hospice conducts new volunteer training twice annually. This training provides education on:
- History, goals and standards.
- Overview of services offered.
- Physical, emotional, social and spiritual issues that people may encounter at the end of life.
- Safety guidelines.
- Interdisciplinary team approach.
- Basic information about grief and loss.
- Boundaries and expectations of volunteers.
- Some areas of volunteering, visiting with patients for example, requires additional training.
How Volunteers Help
Typical volunteer opportunities are:
- Listening to patients and caregivers.
- Writing down stories or correspondence for patient.
- Being a comforting and supportive presence for the patient or caregiver.
- Playing board games, cards, or participating in other patient hobbies.
- Running errands for the patient or family.
- Playing piano or other musical instrument.
- Providing time for the caregiver to take care of themself.
- Receptionist/Greeter in lobby of Hospice LaGrange.
- Coffee Cart in Hospice LaGrange.
- Serving in the kitchen and Hospice LaGrange.
- Gardening.
- Sewing memory pillows.
- Crocheting/knitting prayer blankets.
- Clerical support, phones or filing.
- Fund raising support.
- Providing food, meals or baked items for patients or for special occasions.
- Camp Dogwood, Weekend Grief Camp for children (camp volunteers are 18 years old and up).
Partner with us in providing the best of care that enables our patients and their families the highest quality of life possible. It is a gratifying experience to know you have made an impact in another person’s life. Come join us!
If you are interested in volunteering, send a message to our Volunteer Coordinator Tammy Forbus or call (706) 845-3962.
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