About Us
Four Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care Marks 26th Anniversary
This year, Four Seasons Hospice & Palliative Care marks its 26th Anniversary of caring for patients and their families in our community. Our goal is, and has always been, to treat each person we serve with dignity and respect while providing quality care, comfort and compassion.
Our Hospice was first conceptualized in 1979 by Jean Moulthrop Hoogstra. At the time, Immaculate Conception Church was looking for an outreach program and Jean thought of pursuing hospice as this outreach. Jean and Dr. John Esse, a Hendersonville psychologist, attended a Speakers’ Workshop on the subject on May 11th, 1979. “That was the very beginning!” she said.
Meetings of all those interested in forming this hospice then began at the home of Jean and her husband, Dick Moulthrop, in Hendersonville. Meetings continued at their home until office space was offered by First Presbyterian Church. The First Presbyterian Church housed Hospice for about six years. With generous donations from many businesses and organizations, we only had to pay for the phone.
In November of 1980, 10 of our Hospice group attended the 3rd annual NC State Conference at Lenoir Rhyne College. Jean said, “It was a most wonderful, exciting experience, and served to inspire our whole group.”
At that final luncheon of the conference, the guest speaker was the author of one of the first and best books explaining the Hospice concept, Sandol Stoddard. She expressed the main purpose of this endeavor, defining it as a "Ministry." Jean said, “It was at that point that we recognized that what we were embarking on was just that - a ministry of care and compassion for terminally ill patients and families!”
From the beginning, volunteers were necessary to our hospice program. At first, there were no "paid staff." Our training program for volunteers lasted 10 weeks and was held one evening a week. Over 25 people per week attended the training program and ever since, Hospice has benefited from wonderful volunteers who are willing to give of their time and expertise. In fact, we now have over 230 active volunteers.
Other milestones include our incorporation in December 1979 as Hospice of Henderson County. We cared for our first patient in 1981. In July 1988, we became a Medicare and Medicaid certified hospice provider. In April of 1999, through the kindness of many within our community, we opened the Elizabeth House, a 12-bed inpatient hospice facility. In 2002, we served approximately 30 patients a day, and today we serve over 185 Hospice patients and 130 Palliative Care patients each day. Our organization has grown from a staff of 30 in 2002 to over 140 nurses, aids, doctors and other professionals. Over our 26 years, we have served over 6,500 patients. As a result of such tremendous growth and the generosity of our community, the staff moved into the new 18,000 square foot “Greatrex Place Staff Center and Community Services” Building in December of 2005.
Of those early days, Jean said, “We supported Hospice with our finances, if possible, and we gave enthusiastically of our time and effort as well, as we all had the same goal - to see Hospice of Henderson County a firmly established ministry for those in our community faced with a terminal illness. We never forgot that Hospice care meant both patient and family.”
She added, “Now, 26 years later, we do sincerely thank the Lord for all the folks that, through the years have continued not only to support this program, but have been responsible for making it grow-and grow! We are pleased and grateful to everyone who has had any part of this wonderful ministry. But the greatest privilege and joy was being involved in the struggle at the very, very beginning.“
Thank you, Jean, and to all others who gave of your time and talents to make our hospice the caring and compassionate organization it is today.
Special thanks to Jean Moulthrop Hoogstra who provided much of this information.