By Morris Malakoff, JTNews Correspondent
Despite living in a relatively small community, Jews in Western Washington have long had access to the products and services that allow them to live as practicing Jews — be it culturally or religiously.
There is a full spectrum of congregations, access to kosher foods, even services for the aged, a mortuary and cemeteries for those who have come to the inevitable end of life.
But a gap exists in the “cradle-to-grave” services that can be found in most other communities.
Specifically, Western Washington’s Jewish community is the largest in the nation to not have a Jewish-specific hospice service.
But that could change. The fate of such a service is in the hands of the state Senate in the form of Substitute House Bill 1926. The bill would exempt agencies establishing hospice service serving unique cultural, ethnic or religious needs of having to go through the process of obtaining a certificate of need from the state, an arduous process that was enacted to ensure that overcapacity is not an issue with healthcare facilities.
In the case of the local Jewish community, that service would be provided under the auspices of the Kline Galland Center and Affiliates senior nursing care organization.
According to Kline Galland CEO Jeffrey Cohn, when someone in the community needs end-of-life services, the current practice is to call on an outside agency.
“They do excellent work,” Cohn said, “but there often is a need for services that require a specific understanding of cultural and religious issues in the Jewish community.”
Cohn specifically referenced Holocaust survivors, who often experience intense memories as they enter the final stages of their lives.
But as time moves forward and the next generation comes face-to-face with its mortality, he sees a growing need for a service that can provide rabbinic, dietary and other community-specific care services. He also says that now is the time to get the hospice service in place with an eye to the future.
“The baby boomers are going to increasingly have a need for services in the coming years,” he said. “Having a service they and their families know and trust, particularly through its being a part of Kline Galland, is critical.”
The idea to establish a Jewish hospice service came about more than two years ago.
According to Zach Carstensen, director of government affairs for the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, who has been working with the Kline Galland to get SHB 1926 enacted, the idea was first broached with the State Department of Health, which oversees medical facilities, including hospice operations.
“They suggested a change in the law that would allow for religious, cultural or ethnic-specific hospice organizations to operate without the certificate of need,” he said. “We approached Representative Eileen Cody, who chairs the House Health Care and Wellness Committee, and she agreed to sponsor the bill.”
The Washington State Hospice and Palliative Care Organization expressed a concern with the bill that was neutralized with an amendment that would require that any hospice organization established under the new law obtain a certificate of need when the number of patients under its care exceeds 40.
According to both Cohn and Carstensen, that requirement would not pose a problem. Each agreed that at that 40-patient threshold, establishing need would be a relatively easy task.
Cohn said that the hospice service would not be a “stand-alone” facility, such as the one operated by Providence in Issaquah, but instead a “service delivery” model.
“It is care that can occur in a person’s home, a hospital, an extended-care facility or just about anywhere else,” he said.
He said that the service would employ a varying number of people, dependent upon the number of people receiving service on any given day.
If the bill passes and is signed by the governor, he foresees the service beginning next year.
The bill passed the House early last month 96-0. It has moved to the Senate, where it cleared committee consideration and is now sitting in the Rules Committee, the last stop before floor consideration.
While Carstensen says he thinks the bill will eventually get to the floor and likely pass, he isn’t assuming anything.
“We are working with a number of senators to get it to that point,” he said. “But it can’t hurt for people to contact their senator to express support for getting it to the full Senate for consideration.”
He says that he has also been working with the governor’s staff to be sure that if and when the bill reaches her desk, she will be ready to sign it into law.