Arkansas Hospice *

When an Arkansan is dying, Arkansas Hospice Inc. is there to offer help.

The Little Rock nonprofit provides the dying and their families with physical, emotional and spiritual care, said Michael Aureli, president and CEO of Ark-ansas Hospice.

While the organization first incorporated in 1992, it didn’t start serving patients until 1998, he said. It now assists patients in their own homes, nursing homes or Arkansas Hospice facilities in 24 counties in central Ark-ansas.

“We started in 1998 with six on staff and zero patients,” he said. The patient count has grown to 240 a day, and the staff has expanded to 250.

Arkansas Hospice also has seen a tremendous growth in its revenue, which was $6 million in 2002 and $14 million last year. Its net income jumped from $637,000 in 2003 to $1.6 million in 2004.

Insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid help pay for hospice services. But Arkansas Hospice covers the cost of care for patients without insurance, Aureli said.

“We provide care to all, regardless,” he said.

Aureli attributes the success of the organization to its reputation for providing quality care to patients when it’s most needed.

“People do have choices,” and they could find another hospice agency,” he said.

Aureli also said the community has supported the organization in the form of more than 300 volunteers.

In November, the Arkansas Hospice Angels, a volunteer group that provides manicures, pedicures, massages, facials, make-up and hair styling to hospice patients, won the 2004 outstanding volunteer program from the National Hospice Foundation and the National Council of Hospice & Palliative Professionals.

Aureli said Arkansas Hospice currently is trying to raise $5 million to construct a 19-bed hospice facility in Russellville. It opened its first hospice facility in 2000 in North Little Rock. Its second facility opened in 2002 in Little Rock.

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