Who We Are

 

Compassionate Communities (& the Facebook page) was born out of a need to assist the sick and elderly of the Mt Washington Valley New Hampshire to remain in their homes safely because their services will be terminated by the Visiting Nurse Home Care & Hospice on June 30th, 2026.

The times they are a changin'! Used to be folks took care of each other, now it's the almighty dollar and the bottom line that makes decisions about people's lives. Long story much shorter, VNA has chosen NOT to renew the grants that keep people in their homes. This affects only the long-term care people and not hospice or skilled care. 

I could only imagine that the reason for this change is financial because hospice and skilled care has a fast turnover; people die in hospice and people get well in skilled care. However the long-term care people are just that long term and likely loses money for the agency. So they have decided that the grant money is not enough to provide services for at least nine households today that desperately need their services. 

It was ASSUMED initially, (VNA did NOT say this) that the title 20 Grant was discontinued by the state; but that was not so ... The state advised that visiting nurses themselves decided not to renew the grants - very disheartening! 

Regardless of the logistics, a small group of people are trying to put together something to help the community today and in the future. There are many good people in this community with time and availability and skills to assist the elderly to stay in their homes and not be forced into Medicaid with signing their homes and assets over to the state. The only other recourse provided by VNA was to pay for private care. Obviously those who qualified for a grant for services do not have the money to pay for private care. 

So the purpose of this page is to get a group of volunteers together to pick up the slack that the VNA is leaving behind. Many of these people have had their homes modified so that they can remain comfortably at the end of their lives & there is no good reason that they shouldn't be permitted to stay there! 

So I ask everyone who reads this to please pass the word, & post the link to help make this valiant effort a reality and help our sick elderly alleviate at least this current fear from their lives. Anyone who's interested in volunteering can contact Lynn Burris or Mary Wellman on Facebook. Let's get a list together let's get ready for the end of June. Who can say that age and infirmity will never touch their family? It's 9 people today but it's going to be a lot more in the future. the Mt Washington Valley has a lot of elderly - let's all step up whether we volunteer or spread the word and please pray for the folks affected by this!