On Going to a Comfort Care Home in Rochester, NY

Rochester, NY City Guide
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On Going to a Comfort Care Home in Rochester, NY

Rochester is fortunate to have six Comfort Care Houses that help people on hospice. They all work on the same model—caring for two people at a time with the help of volunteers and nurses, providing care at no cost to patient or family. A Hospice nursing agency supports the care with nursing, social work, chaplain, and aide visits. Each Comfort Care Home acts independently, choosing from the list of referred patients based on their own assessment of who has the greatest need of their help. When a home is interested in offering a bed to someone, the nurse manager of the house will come out to interview the person, bringing pictures of the house to help the person understand what the house might be like. Declining the offer of a bed does not mean that in the future a bed might not be available—-usually when the next bed becomes available, the person would be given another chance to go there.

The six houses are geographically spread out over the Rochester area. In the center of the city is Isaiah House on Prince Street near the Auditorium Theatre. In Irondequoit is Sunset House, at the corner of St. Paul St. and Cooper Rd. On the West side are Mt. Carmel House near Lexington and Mt. Read Blvd., and Journey Home at Long Pond Rd and Vintage. In Mendon is Benincasa and in Perinton at Moseley Rd and Guarnsey Rd is Advent House. Here are photographs of the outside of some of the houses: Isaiah House-- which has the flavor of a comfortable home in the city, graced by a beautiful garden in the back and Advent House, built from the ground up to be a Comfort Care home--and here is a view of a bedroom-- Each of the houses has their own personality, but all share warmth of spirit, competence in their care, and dedication to helping both the patient and their family. Due to their need to respect the privacy of their guests, the houses are not open for tours by interested families.

Click on images to see larger view

Isaiah House

Isaiah House Garden

All of the Comfort Care Homes ask that the patient’s physician be willing to state that the person has a probable life expectancy of less than three months. Most homes will allow a person to stay beyond that time if they are actively dying, but if the person stabilizes the person’s family will be asked to work with the hospice team to find another place for care—either home or a nursing home. All of the homes decline to care for someone with a feeding tube. A few allow smoking; most allow pets to visit. Most of the homes have an extra bedroom where a family member can spend the night occasionally. Homes will try within reason to provide food that meets a person’s dietary restrictions.

Volunteers at a Comfort Care Home have extensive training. They provide personal care and emotional support. They can give medications as needed. Some of the Homes have their own medical director; others use the patient’s physician. Hospice originally was a volunteer movement; in these comfort care homes, the spirit of hospice shines forth.

Advent House

Additional Information

All telephone numbers are in the 716 area code unless otherwise specified.

Advent House. 223-6112. 1010 Moseley Road. Fairport, NY 14450
Contact: Glenda Hastings

Benincasa, Inc. 624-8070. 3880 Rush-Mendon Road, Mendon, New York 14506 Contact: Lori LaSalle

Isaiah House. 232-5221. 71 Prince Street Rochester, NY 14605. Contact: Kathie Quinlan, RN, Director.

Journey Home. 225-1240. 994 Long Pond Rd., Rochester, NY 14626. Contact: Tracey Jagla, Director.

Mount Carmel House. 458-6508. 4 Planet St., Rochester, NY 14606. Contact: Pam Brady, Director.

Sunset House, Inc. 467-3524. 3746 St. Paul Blvd., Rochester NY 14617. Contact: Laurie Witmeyer, Director

WXXI On Our Own Terms Resources.

Advent House Bedroom

© 2001 Geoff Lister. This document may be copied in its entirety freely. It may be reproduced in electronic and paper form under the condition that no charge be made for its reproduction and that the author is cited. Please send your feedback to Geoff Lister.

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