Hospice funding remains secure in Kodiak despite cuts elsewhere

 

Many local non-profit organizations are in a wait-and-see mode as a bill passed by the Alaska Legislature to reinstate line item vetoes makes its way to the governor’s desk.

Will Gov. Mike Dunleavy let the money go through, or will he perform another round of vetoes?

At least one local non-profit is safe from direct cuts, because as its exec director told KMXT, it doesn’t depend on funds from the state.

Amy Durand is the Executive Director of Hospice and Palliative Care of Kodiak which offers end of life services to patients and their families.

 

She says she’s had a number of questions about the future of the local organization in light of the governor’s massive budget cuts.

Durand says the organization is funded largely by small local grants and donations. And that the organization is in no danger of going away

The fate of hospice service in Alaska was brought to the forefront last month when one legislator, Rep. Chuck Kopp of southwest Anchorage, called out a number of services that he felt should not have gotten the governor’s red pen.

 

“Madame Chair, is taking hospice care from families with dying loved ones who are at the very end of their life, and when they are in the most need of hospice assistance, is that worth a $3,000 PFD?”

 

Kopp spoke during the Joint Session of the legislature convened to over-ride the governor’s line-item-vetoes. There were not enough votes to over-ride the cuts, but the legislature has since passed a bill to reinstate most of the deleted funding. That is the measure that will soon be on the governor’s desk.

 

 

Durand says Kodiak’s hospice isn’t the same as those Kopp was referring to. The key phrase, she says, is “medical services,” which involves Medicaid, Medicare and private insurance. Something the local organization isn’t involved in.

 

“A lot of hospices down in the Lower 48, Anchorage, the mainland, they offer full-service, so that’s medical. And what we do here in Kodiak is we provide the non-medical support. And we work very closely with the medical providers from KCHC, at KANA, Providence. We just work really closely with the medical field so that they do their medical side of things, and then we can just offer the support services that helps the family during that time.

 

Durand adds that those services for families are performed by what she calls ‘amazing volunteers’ and, unlike some off-island providers, Hospice and Palliative Care of Kodiak is free of charge.