MOUNT VERNON — Education is a centerpiece of Austin Swallow’s vision for Hospice of Knox County. He also wants to help the organization meet the future needs of its citizens.
He said he has gotten a taste of about everything there is to experience about hospice in the three weeks since he became the executive director of the organization. Swallow said he has met with patients in homes and nursing homes, gotten to know the nurses, met with medical director Dr. William Elder, gone to a board meeting, and tried to get a handle on the needs of the office.
According to Swallow, along with nurses who provide care for patients, volunteers are a big part of the organization. They help patients in a variety of ways, such as by sitting with them or driving them around.
“Everyone works together; there is definitely a team approach,” Swallow said.
He explained that a physician has to make the diagnosis of six months or less to live before a person is eligible to receive hospice care. Once a person is admitted, a nurse and social worker will visit the patient and create a report and history on that person. Then a head nurse is assigned. But the patient might be seeing several different people, including different nurses, social workers, a chaplain and volunteers.
The first goal is to see that the patient’s medical needs are met, so that all medication is arranged for and pain control needs met. Then the hospice workers can focus on nonmedical aspects of the job. This may include the social side of helping not only the patient, but also the family, understand the process. Hospice can help provide help with legal matters by referring the patient and the family to the right people.
“I was in a home the other day with a patient who was younger, in her 30s. She had a younger sister-in-law who had a little girl. We explained how hospice works,” Swallow said.
He said many people think that when hospice comes, it means the end has come. Swallow said that in some cases, however, patients stabilize or even experience some medical improvements. He added that hospice provides a comprehensive program, and, even after a patient passes away, the service continues. There is a year of followup that takes place after the patient’s death, which help adults as well as children cope with the death of a loved one. Theoretically, the service could continue on for longer than a year, if needed.
He said the executive director casts the the vision for the organization. He is responsible for the budget and administrative oversite of personnel and plays a crucial role in fund-raising. The director of nursing has more patient care responsibilities, but the director is more directly involved in the community and acts as the face of the organization in many ways. He said a big part of the job is education.
“My vision is to help educate people about hospice,” he said. “I will continually have to do that.”
Swallow said he wants people to know that hospice’s services are available to everyone.
“There is a common perception that going to hospice will cost money,” he said. “We never have nor will we ever turn anyone away.”
About 15 to 17 percent of patients are classified as nonpaying, Swallow said. For many people, Medicare and Medicaid will pay for the majority of the costs of hospice care. Others may have purchased private insurance. He said one of the reasons for fund-raising is to help make up for gaps in funding for patient care.
Swallow said the demographics of Mount Vernon and Knox County are changing. As baby boomers get older, there will probably be a continual growth in the local hospice service. He said he wants to strive to have the best nurses, the best social workers, the best in all levels of staffing. Swallow said he also wants to see hospice’s building on Coshocton Road expand. About 90 percent of people want to die in their homes, he said, but there are some who don’t feel that way. There is room for expansion on the Coshocton Road building. One day there may be a patient care center added.
Swallow said that at the heart of all hospice employees and volunteers is the belief that they are helping people, that what they do makes a difference in people’s lives. When the national organization was founded in the late 1970s, it was founded on a belief in compassion. Everyone at the local hospice believes in that compassion.
Swallow commented briefly on the dismissal of the former executive director in 2006 and subsequent litigation filed by the former director against the local hospice board of directors. He said he thinks both the employees and the organization have moved on, though it was not a pleasant time. Although there is still pending litigation in the Knox County Court of Common Pleas, everyone is looking forward and not backward. Swallow added that he thinks his hiring was a signal, on the part of the board, that things are moving forward.
Swallow had been the executive director of development at the Mount Vernon Nazarene University. Last June, he earned a master’s degree in management and said he felt somewhat restless. Swallow said he wanted to put the theoretical knowledge he gained into practice. Although he left MVNU on Jan. 31 and already had another job lined up, he said he learned of the opening with hospice, went for it, and was hired Feb. 24.
Swallow said he plans to remain active in the community and to serve on such groups as the Mount Vernon Municipal Planning Commission and the Knox County Regional Planning Commission.