Hospice Journey

Purpose

Hospice Journey was created to help people facing terminal illness be surrounded by as much love and peace as possible during their final months and days. It is also designed to help support hospice programs.

For families

Hospice Journey helps hospice patients stay connected and supported by friends and family. Users can post updates and photos, leave messages of love and support, reflect on their life, and ask for help through the following features:

Updates

Each personal website features a section where a patient or their caregiver can post updates on their or their loved one’s condition. Posting updates in one place can save the patient and caregiver from having to repeat the update several times over the phone. Friends and family are immediately sent an email when a new update is added, so they can stay informed about what is happening.

Guest Book

Friends and family can leave messages for the patient. The Guest Book is a place to express love, thoughts, feelings and memories for the patient to read at any time. Reading the Guest Book can be a wonderful experience for a patient and caregivers during a very difficult time.

Photos

Each personal website features a photo album where friends and family can contribute their favorite photos of the patient. The photos can be viewed as a slideshow.

Reflections

This section allows the patients to tell their life story. They’re encouraged to discuss their favorite memories, people who influenced them and their personal insights into life’s biggest questions. The questions in the Reflections pages can spark heart-opening conversations.

Lend a Hand

Caregivers can easily let a patient’s community know how they can help through the Lend a Hand page by posting information about the best times to visit or call, tasks they may need help with such as laundry or shopping, financial support and more.

Resources

Each site includes a Resources page that provides links to helpful books and websites for learning how to be fully present during the months before death.

For hospices

Hospice Journey collaborates with hospices to provide websites to the patients they serve as well as to help them in raising donations to support their programs. Each Hospice Journey site includes a "Support Hospice" section where a patient’s family and friends can make donations to the hospice serving their loved one. In addition, collaborating hospices gain access to the benefits of a web technology that was developed to serve the unique needs of hospice. Currently Hospice Journey is collaborating with a dozen hospices across the country. The organization would like to partner with several more hospices in the near future and eventually expand to partnering with hospices internationally.

Hospice Journey websites support hospice’s core mission to bring families and friends together to care for their loved one. The software also helps to raise awareness about the care that hospice provides.

Privacy

Hospice Journey personalized websites created by users are only accessible to the site creator and the guests he/she invites. Users must have an account and login to see the site. Hospice Journey's login pages are encrypted using the https protocol.

History

Much of the inspiration for Hospice Journey came from the experiences that one of its founders, Marina, had as she cared for her mom in the last months of her life with the help of a hospice. Executive Director, Vanessa, has been a hospice volunteer since 1995 and has been honored to journey with families facing end of life. Her grandparents were served by hospice in 2007 and 2008.

Hospice Journey’s founders are senior software engineers with experience working for some of the world’s leading technology companies. The website’s creation has been supported by a team of volunteers who have a deep respect for hospice for helping people to live their final months and days with comprehensive, compassionate support and expert care.

Affiliations

Hospice Journey is a member of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association. Some of the hospice programs collaborating with Hospice Journey include Community Hospice, Hospice of Amador & Calaveras, Hospice of the Valley, and Pathways in California; Treasure Coast Hospice in Florida; Hospice Hawaii in Hawaii; and Gilchrist Hospice Care in Maryland.