Pikes Peak Hospice & Palliative Care was the first hospice in Colorado Springs when community advocates Flo Carris and Susan Langstaff launched it in 1980.

By 1986, PPHPC had opened the Hospice Care Residence in Colorado Springs’ Holland Park neighborhood, becoming the first free-standing hospice care residence in the state.

Today, it’s the largest hospice in the Pikes Peak region and has set the bar for all that have followed. It’s also the only nonprofit hospice in this area.

“This allows us to fundraise for many services and programs that differentiate us from the for-profit hospices,” said Andrew Petersen, PPHPC’s executive director.

The organization’s motto is “Expert care from compassionate hearts.” Its 88 full-time and 22 part-time employees, along with 98 volunteers (as of late October), strive to deliver that care and caring to terminally ill people and their loved ones every day.

Those employees are skilled in medicine, nursing, pain management and integrative therapies, plus spiritual and psychological support, and can tailor care for each person’s needs and wishes.

Some volunteers stay with patients while their caregivers run errands, while others sit at bedsides when death is imminent. Still others visit with pets or musical instruments.

The average cost per patient for charity care is $2,166, Petersen said. The Patient Special Needs program provides an average of $703 for anything the patient needs but has no way to pay for, and the Sentimental Journey, which averages $1,037, fulfills patients’ bucket-list wishes.

“PPHPC never refuses hospice services to anyone because of their inability to pay. It is our mission to provide expert, quality and compassionate care to anyone who needs our services,” Petersen said.

Last year, PPHPC received $72,000 from the Empty Stocking Fund, and a total of almost $407,000 since 2017.

Not surprisingly for an area with a large active-duty and retired service member population, one of PPHPC’s missions is to serve veterans nearing the end of their lives.

Petersen remembers veteran Robert Wilson, for whom PPHPC organized a “heartfelt” recognition ceremony. The 100-year-old served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

“Robert received service pins, certificates, salutes and handshakes from over 30 active-duty members, retirees, military spouses and family members from the Army, Marines, Air Force, Navy and Space Force,” Petersen said.

“Robert was so grateful and teary-eyed throughout the ceremony and repeatedly stated, ‘I have no words.’ He profusely thanked the attendees and acknowledged, ‘I just did what every one of you would do in the same situation. I did what I was told to serve my country,’” Petersen recalled.

PPHPC is a Level 5 partner of We Honor Veterans, a collaboration between the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that supports hospices caring for veterans. The hospice is the only one in El Paso County and just the third hospice in Colorado to earn that designation.

To Petersen, that recognition symbolizes PPHPC’s commitment to providing high-level care and compassion, including veteran-to-veteran companionship, to people who have served their country. The hospice also works with Veterans Affairs to help veterans access their military benefits.

Most hospice clients receive care in their homes, with the nurse case manager, social worker and chaplain partnering with the patient and their family to determine the number and nature of visits. Some patients receive the same types of care while in skilled-nursing facilities or assisted-living residences. In those cases, the hospice team confers with the facility’s staff to plan their care program.

When the end comes, PPHPC continues to help through grief support services for people who have lost their loved ones.