Serenity Hospice highlights bereavement, palliative services and county growth

Representatives of Serenity Hospice and Home told the Lee County Finance Committee their organization is seeing growth in Lee County and seeks county support for bereavement and grief‑support services. Suzanne Raveland said Serenity operates a hospice home in Oregon, Illinois, and described efforts to expand grief services that start before end‑of‑life care. “Grief starts actually before dying,” Raveland said, explaining the nonprofit’s bereavement programming and palliative care services aimed at longer‑term supportive care before hospice enrollment. Program scale and staffing: Raveland reported Serenity employs roughly 100 staff across its service area with about 60 full‑time positions and relies heavily on volunteers; she said Lee County accounts for a growing share of admissions and that the organization serves more than 100 patients per day across its footprint. Raveland gave average lengths of stay for palliative care (about 120 days) and discussed a broader range of stays on hospice, noting some patients receive short renewals and others remain for longer periods. Why it matters: the organization described the hospice home as a scarce community resource with fiscal challenges and asked for county help to sustain bereavement outreach and community education. Committee members asked about service territories and how local nonprofits coordinate; Raveland said nonprofits aim to ‘‘stay in your lane’’ where possible and to cooperate on referrals and care coordination. No county funding decision was made at the presentation; the committee received the information as part of the FY budget review.