Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula’s roots are firmly planted in partnerships with the community, and these partnerships remain one of the organization’s defining traits. Take for example two present-day philanthropic visionaries — the family of Leslie and Dr. Charles “Charlie” Snorf and Jackie Wendland, Monterey County residents who shared an inspired ambition for growing Montage Health’s palliative care services.
It was mom's last wish to help people with in-home palliative care; she was adamant about it.
— David Hicks, son of Leslie Silver Snorf
Palliative care supports patients and their families who are living with a serious or life-limiting illness, focusing on helping them feel comfortable and in control of their health. “Each patient is treated as an individual,” says Ramona Thurman, Community Hospital’s Supportive and Palliative Care Manager, “and their care incorporates their values, the things that bring them joy, and their own definition of quality of life. Our goal is to maximize the good in their life while they are living with serious medical challenges.”
With a deep understanding of the increased quality of life, comfort, and peace of mind that palliative care brings patients, the family of Leslie and Charlie Snorf and Jackie Wendland individually partnered with Montage Health Foundation to increase access to palliative medicine.
Palliative care can be a difficult thing to get people excited about or interested in, but it is so important and so helpful to the people who access it.
— Jackie Wendland, Montage Health Foundation donor
Thanks to their support, Community Hospital’s outpatient Supportive and Palliative Care services have dramatically expanded. In addition to accommodating more patients, the hospital’s palliative outpatient enhancements reduce the burden of illness and increase quality of life for patients, families, and caregivers. They also improve end-of-life care and timing for hospice transitions, and improve goal coordination during healthcare setting transitions.
The expansion can reduce emergency department visits and hospital stays, and enables the hospital’s palliative medicine experts to provide some of the palliative care duties that might sometimes fall on primary care doctors or specialists.
Meet the family of Leslie and Charlie Snorf as well as Jackie Wendland, and learn about the events that inspired them to partner with Montage Health Foundation to make their palliative care visions a reality.
