Everheart Hospice CEO shares how care, compassion and community support patients and families

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Everheart Hospice CEO Kristi Strawser recently joined Spectrum, WCSM’s daily public affairs program, to talk about how hospice and palliative care have changed, what families can expect, and why local support is so important to their mission.

Strawser has spent her entire career in hospice and palliative care. She first joined the organization in 2005 as a bedside hospice nurse and has now been with Everheart for about 20 years, serving more than seven years as CEO. She says the work quickly became a calling, describing it as “impactful” and something that has kept her “hooked for life.”

One of the biggest misconceptions she still sees is the idea that hospice is a place. Strawser explained that the majority of Everheart’s care happens wherever the patient calls home. That can be a private residence, a nursing home, assisted living or a group home. Most people, she says, want to spend their final days at home if possible. Only a small percentage of patients require short term inpatient care when symptoms become too difficult to manage in the home.

When that higher level of care is needed, Everheart offers options close to home. The organization operates an inpatient unit inside Wayne HealthCare in Greenville, where Everheart staff provide round the clock care, usually on a short term basis to get symptoms under control. Everheart also partners with Mercer Health to provide a general inpatient level of care there, working side by side with hospital staff to support patients and families.

Strawser also emphasized the difference between hospice and palliative care. All hospice care is palliative, she noted, because it focuses on comfort. However, not all palliative care is hospice. Palliative care can begin much earlier in an illness, even while a patient is still receiving aggressive or curative treatment such as chemotherapy or recovering from a serious medical event like a stroke. Hospice, by contrast, is designed for patients with a terminal diagnosis and a physician’s estimate of six months or less to live, although many patients remain on hospice care longer.

Everheart’s service area is broad. The nonprofit currently serves 10 counties, stretching from Paulding County in the north through Auglaize, Shelby and Miami counties, and into rural parts of Montgomery and Preble counties. Offices in Greenville and Coldwater help support a team that spends a lot of time on the road delivering care where it is needed.

Strawser stressed that ability to pay is never a barrier to service. Most patients qualify for Medicare, which pays hospice costs in full. Others are covered by private insurance. For those without any payer source, Everheart still provides care and does not turn patients away. Donations from families and community members, along with fundraisers such as golf outings and events at Eldora Speedway, help support that mission and allow the nonprofit to cover gaps between costs and reimbursement.

Beyond medical services, Strawser says compassion is at the heart of Everheart’s identity. Surveys of families often describe the hospice team as a “guiding light” that walks alongside both patients and their loved ones through an overwhelming time. Staff include nurses, hospice aides, social workers, chaplains and therapists, as well as volunteers. Together they focus on whole person care, addressing physical, emotional and spiritual needs.

Everheart also offers special “legacy” projects that help families preserve memories. These can include recording a patient’s heartbeat and placing it inside a stuffed animal, capturing hand photographs that sometimes include family pets, and other keepsakes that families can hold onto long after a loved one has passed. Music therapy visits and volunteer flower deliveries to nursing facilities are other examples of services that are not reimbursed but are still offered because of their value to patients and families.

Strawser encouraged anyone who thinks they or a loved one might need hospice or palliative care to call and ask questions, even if they are worried about cost or are not sure whether it is the right time. She also invited the community to follow Everheart Hospice online. The organization shares updates, stories and special celebrations on its website at ehhospice.org and on social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn, including milestone birthdays and other moments from patients who give permission to share.

As the holidays approach, Strawser says her work is a daily reminder not to take time for granted. Watching many individuals reach the final stages of life, especially this time of year, reinforces the importance of appreciating each day. She hopes that message reaches listeners as they gather with their own families: every birthday matters, every holiday matters, and every extra day is a gift.