HopeHealth earns national Jewish hospice accreditation

HopeHealth recently achieved accreditation from the National Institute for Jewish Hospice (NIJH) for its commitment to providing culturally sensitive care to Jewish hospice patients and their families.

The accreditation follows the participation of two HopeHealth chaplains in the NIJH annual national conference, which took place virtually last November. The conference covered training in Jewish holidays and prayers, medical ethics, burial practices and mourning customs.

All HopeHealth staff will receive educational information before all Jewish holidays this year. The materials will explain the history and significance of each holiday and any areas of concerns relevant to end-of life-care, said Meredith Sinel, MSW, HopeHealth manager of chaplains and social workers.

“As a mission-driven organization committed to ensuring our patients’ care is handled with respect and dignity, we are carefully looking at our social responsibility to understand how we can better meet the cultural, spiritual and religious needs of anyone who is on service with us,” Sinel said.

Sinel attended the NIJH conference with HopeHealth chaplain Wilson Hood, MDiv.

Over the past 34 years, NIJH has accredited hundreds of hospices across the country and trained thousands of professionals to develop knowledge of Jewish culture, values and traditions.

The accreditation comes at a time when HopeHealth has launched a comprehensive approach to create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace, said President & CEO Diana Franchitto.

“We believe it is important to our core mission that all staff members are trained to be sensitive to all religious and cultural traditions,” Franchitto said.

Submitted by HopeHealth. For more than a century, HopeHealth has provided care to people in various stages of illness to communities in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Its roots began in home care in 1908 and then in hospice in 1976, coming together as HopeHealth in 2011 providing home care, palliative care and hospice care. HopeHealth is a teaching affiliate of The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.