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Join us for another Demystifying session on hospice and palliative care. The presentation will clarify the differences between hospice and palliative care and explain their unique benefits. We’ll explore eligibility criteria and the financial aspects of each type of care. What is covered? What isn’t covered? We’ll discuss the concept of the interdisciplinary team in hospice and how it provides support to patients and their families, even after a patient has passed away.

Our goal is to equip you with information to make informed decisions about serious illness care for yourself and your loved ones. For nearly 50 years, HopeHealth has provided exceptional hospice, palliative, dementia, and grief support services. HopeHealth also offers a wide array of community education programs, caregiver support groups, and grief support groups, free of charge, to anyone in the community who needs them.

• Jennifer Ritzau, MD Vice President of the HopeHealth Medical Staff
  Dr. Jenny Ritzau leads HopeHealth’s palliative care programs, which served more than 6,500 patients last year. She also leads Complex Care Conversations, having trained over 2,000 providers to date in how to conduct difficult conversations with patients at end of life. She was named a 2023 Health Care Hero by Providence Business News as a top health care administrator.
  Dr. Ritzau received a Bachelor of Arts in biology at University of Virginia and Doctor of Medicine at the Medical College of Virginia. She completed her residency at the University of New Mexico Health Center and earned a fellowship in geriatric medicine at the University of Connecticut Medical Center.
• Deanna Upchurch Senior Director, Community Relations and Clinical Outreach
  Deanna Upchurch has worked in hospice and palliative care for 25 years as a grief counselor and healthcare leader. She has spent the last 18 years at HopeHealth and focuses on developing teams that provide compassionate care to patients at end of life and their families, including grief support and caregiver support; community education; volunteer services; veterans’ programs; Alzheimer’s and dementia programs; and the Pedi Pal program. She holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Rhode Island College and has served for 20 years as adjunct faculty at Bristol Community College where she teaches Exploring Life and Death and Human Development. She is Social Behavioral adjunct faculty for Brown University’s Warren Alpert School of Medicine, teaching first and second year medical students compassionate medical interviewing skills.