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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHospice of SLO County HSG 2024-25 ApplicationHuman Services Grant Application 2024-25 Application Questions Part 1 Basic Information 1. Organization Name * Hospice of San Luis Obispo County 2. Fiscal Agent (if different than above)* N/A 3. Project/Program Name * Caregiver Support and Grief Counseling 4. Requested Amount * $20,000 5. Name of Person Completing Application * Shannon McOuat 6. Name of Person for Grant Communication and Contract for Grant Cycle (if different from above)* Shannon McOuat 7. Organization Mailing Address * 1304 Pacific St., San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 8. Phone * 808-544-2266 9. Email * shannonmcouat@hospiceslo.org Part 2 Organizational Information 1. Purpose/Mission Statement * Hospice SLO County is a non-medical volunteer hospice and community grief center. We are dedicated to providing support service access to all who are dying or grieving in the community. Our services are accessible to a wide range of community members, due to being offered free of charge. 2. Briefly describe your organization’s purpose, vision, primary activities, and operating structures * Hospice SLO County is a volunteer hospice and community grief center serving San Luis Obispo County residents who are facing a life- limiting illness, end of life, or grief. We depend 100% on community donations, fundraising events, grants, bequests, and planned gifts, and the time and talent of seven full-time staff, four part-time staff, three interns, and over 120 active volunteers. We provide free of charge services to those grieving or coping with life-limiting illness. Our organizational model utilizes professional staff to recruit, train, and supervise qualified volunteers. Our staff members also provide direct services to clients, caregivers, and community members. Unlike medical hospices, we do not restrict persons who have prognoses longer than six months, wish to continue aggressive or curative approaches, or wish to continue life-sustaining treatment. We offer services in partnership and collaboration with other health care provider agencies in the community. We offer grief and bereavement services to all members of the community regardless of whether their loved ones received hospice services from our organization. We believe that the end of life deserves as much respect as the beginning. Details about our main services are provided below. • In-home Volunteers - Under the direction and facilitation of our Volunteer Services Manager, Hospice SLO County in-home volunteers offer practical help to clients as well as respite care to relieve family caregivers. Typically, our volunteers help by providing companionship and socialization to clients through reading, singing, actively listening, making crafts, gardening, taking clients out to lunch (as they are able), running errands, helping with light housekeeping and simple meal preparation, transporting clients to appointments, providing scribe services, offering life review and reminiscence, arranging pet therapy visits, providing “normalcy ” to those with life-limiting illness and dementia, and holding space for anticipatory grief expression. Our in-home volunteers help to keep home caregivers mentally healthy as they care for a loved one with dementia or other life-limiting diagnosis. Our volunteers provide social connection to families caring for a dying loved one and can help them to cultivate resilience throughout the anticipatory grief process. Our volunteers support family members of all ages, from youth to seniors, and are a stabilizing source of support for the whole family. Our professional staff and volunteers are comprehensively informed about a variety of community resources and can make referrals to other services or community agencies when appropriate. • Care Management - We offer comprehensive Care Management to ease caregivers’ burden of finding appropriate resources and developing informed care plans for their loved ones. Our dedicated Care Manager meets with families to develop personalized care plans that align with clients’ end of life trajectory, and coordinates referrals to other agencies that help those in our community. Our Care Manager specializes in supporting caregivers whose loved ones have been diagnosed with Alzheimer ’s or other forms of dementia. Our Care Manager and other core staff also provide education and tutorials on completing advance care directives, facilitate monthly Death Café virtual discussions, host guest speakers, and provide education at community events. • Grief Counseling - Our grief counseling team provides individualized and family therapy sessions, plus facilitated support groups and community grief response. Our organization approaches grief as a normal response to dying and death and views each person’s grief as requiring a variety of support options to be made available. A major goal of our grief counseling services is to achieve a significant reduction in clients’ self-reported symptoms because of their engagement with our counseling care. Symptoms of grief include—but are not limited to —feelings of disconnectedness or numbness, sadness and yearning, fatigue and decreased sleep, mood swings and tearfulness, waves of anger or other strong emotions, guilt or denial, difficulty handling the functions of daily life, neglecting self-care or other responsibilities, loss of appetite, and other symptoms. Our grief counseling program supports those who need emotional, social, and practical support after an anticipated, sudden, accidental, or traumatic death. • Support Groups - We offer a variety of Support Groups, several of which are specific to caregivers who are anticipating the loss of a loved one, grieving from a loss, or experiencing compassion fatigue. Support groups are facilitated primarily by our grief counselors, staff, and by some volunteer facilitators. Ample support is provided in our general grief support group, as well as in our targeted support groups for family caregivers, compassion fatigue, spouse/partner loss, suicide bereavement, LGBTQ, and pet loss. Our support group offerings continue to expand to both virtual and in-person formats, so that they can accommodate the needs and preferences of a wider variety of community members who need support. • Community Grief Response - Our Community Grief Response Team, comprised of our grief counselors and trained volunteers, provides timely counseling support, consultation, and education about grief and coping with loss, including anticipating a loss and coping with the shock of a sudden death. Community Grief Response services are provided to businesses, schools, churches, community agencies, and other groups. Our trained counselors work with both children and adults and consult with groups and agencies on the approach that feels most helpful to them. • Auxiliary Support Services - We offer a variety of auxiliary support options for clients, primary caregivers, and families including end-of-life support volunteers to bring holistic care and vigil guidance to the dying person and their caregivers and family, Pet Peace of Mind volunteers to help seriously ill people and their caregivers with the care of their pets, Reiki Therapy volunteers to provide gentle and relaxing energy treatments to caregivers and their dying loved ones, and more. Our auxiliary support services are run by our Volunteer Services Manager. 3. Name of Executive Director * Shannon McOuat 4. Name of Board President or Chair * Abe Lincoln 5. Number of paid staff (full or part-time)* 11 6. Number of volunteers * 120 7. Describe the community(ies) your organization supports * All of our organization’s services are available to support all those in need throughout SLO County, regardless of their financial situation or cultural background, and we actively strive for inclusivity. By being offered free of charge throughout SLO County, without the need for medical insurance qualification, all our in-home caregiver support and grief counseling services are exponentially more accessible to a much wider range of community members, many of whom are primary caregivers to loved ones with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. We serve those in the low- or fixed-income brackets who may not have ready access to social services or are not able to pay for services. We also offer a variety of support services virtually, to further increase access for those in remote areas of the county or whose caregiving situations make it challenging for them to visit our downtown SLO location. We bridge an important gap in local services for the dying and grieving and are often able to respond to requests for support more nimbly than other agencies are, by intentional design following the original volunteer hospice model. Many residents of SLO City and County are currently experiencing the need for grief counseling and in-home hospice volunteer support for those facing or caring for a family member with dementia or other life limiting illness. Simultaneously, they are facing economic hardships that may prevent them from accessing much-needed support services related to health and wellness. Our organization continues to receive copious requests for support services from throughout the county, and many of our calls come from within the City of SLO. We are doing our best to make sure our agency rebuilds and diversifies its capacity so that we can continue providing much-needed support to our community through and beyond our 47th year of service. 8. Approximate Annual Budget * $720,000 9. Major Sources of Funding * Bauer Foundation grant ($18,000 for Grief Counseling), Community grants ($25,000 for Caregiver Support), Foundation grants (varying amounts for Caregiver Support), Government grants (varying amounts from SLO County, SLO City, Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach), Moca Foundation grant ($25,000 for Grief Counseling), Rupe Foundation grant ($65,000 for Care Management); Individual donations and bequests; fundraising events (Walk for Healing, Light Up a Life, Giving Tuesday, etc.). Part 3 Project/Program Information 14. In the table below include a minimum of four (4) metrics or performance outcomes that relate to the implementation/success of the project. Examples include: # of SLO City residents served, # of referrals provided to individuals seeking social services. Methods of Evaluation Indicators of Success / Measurable Outcomes Tracking volunteer placements # of Caregiver Support volunteers placed in SLO County homes Tracking grief counseling clients and sessions # of Grief Counseling clients served Growing our pool of in-home volunteers # of new volunteers trained and onboarded Training new in-home volunteers # of volunteer trainings held 1. Please provide an executive summary of proposed project/program * We are requesting Human Services Grant funding for our Caregiver Support and Grief Counseling program, which offers a variety of services to help keep home caregivers healthy and well as they care for a loved one with a life-limiting diagnosis. Sometimes primary caregivers just need a temporary break from full-time caregiving to run errands or take care of various life responsibilities. Other times, they need someone to offer them emotional support and companionship, connect them to resources, help normalize the end-of-life trajectory, or help with light housekeeping and meal preparation. To this end, Hospice SLO County’s volunteers visit clients’ homes to provide short- term relief or respite care to primary caregivers while also lending compassionate support to the loved one with dementia or other life- limiting illness. Our in-home volunteers provide a consistent supportive presence for the entire family. Our grief counseling team provides individualized and family therapy sessions, providing another layer of support for family caregivers in our community as they anticipate the loss of a loved one or grieve that loss. Our grief counseling program supports those who need emotional, social, and practical support after an anticipated, sudden, accidental, or traumatic death. 2. Total Project Cost?* $241,890.00 3. Requested Project Amount * $20,000.00 4. Please provide a detailed description of proposed project/program * Hospice of SLO County is requesting a Human Services Grant of $20,000 to support the personnel costs associated with sustaining our Caregiver Support and Grief Counseling program so that we can meet the community ’s ongoing need for our in-home caregiver support and grief counseling services. The funds will help us to train new in-home volunteers and manage our existing pool of volunteers, ensuring that our organization can continue to provide trained volunteers to those in need of caregiver support in our community, and will help to support our licensed Supervising Grief Counselors. Our Caregiver Support and Grief Counseling program offers free of charge services to help keep home caregivers in SLO County healthy and well as they care for a loved one with a life-limiting diagnosis. Caring for a spouse, parent, relative or loved one with dementia or other life-limiting illness is an immense undertaking, and primary caregivers often need a variety of practical, accessible support services to care for their ailing loved one while staying mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially healthy and well themselves. Hospice SLO County’s trained volunteers visit homes throughout SLO County for up to four hours per week to provide short-term relief or respite care to primary caregivers while also lending consistent and compassionate support to both the loved one with dementia or other life-limiting illness and their family. Our modest professional staff manages 120+ consistently active volunteers and trains upwards of 200 volunteers each year, holding quarterly training programs for new volunteers. Grief counseling is available to caregivers in our community in one-on-one, family, and group formats. Our agency will use the award to partially fund personnel expenses for our Caregiver Support and Grief Counseling program. The total annual budget for our combined Caregiver Support and Grief Counseling program is $241,890. We are asking for $20,000 in this grant request. Specifically, we will dedicate 50% of the grant funds ($10,000) to offset a portion of the annual salary for our full-time Volunteer Services Manager, who plays a central role in onboarding and managing our pool of in-home volunteers who serve clients facing life limiting illness and their caregivers throughout SLO County. The total annual salary of the Volunteer Services Manager is $58,240. The other 50% of the grant funds ($10,000) will be dedicated to offset a portion of the annual salaries for our two part-time Clinical Supervisors in the Grief Counseling program ($5,000 towards each Clinical Supervisor, whose combined annual salary is $49,400). The vital services provided by our Caregiver Support and Grief Counseling program elegantly address the confluence of four Human Services priority funding areas, as they critically impact the clients we serve. 5. Describe the community/population the project/program will support.* Our Caregiver Support and Grief Counseling program primarily supports home caregivers coping with the impending loss of a loved one or grieving from that loss. Our services are accessible to a wide range of community members, due to being offered free of charge. We are dedicated to providing support service access to all who are dying or grieving in the community. Caring for a spouse, parent, relative or loved one with dementia or other life-limiting illness is an immense undertaking, and primary caregivers often need a variety of practical, accessible support services to care for their ailing loved one while staying mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially healthy and well themselves. This is where Hospice SLO County ’s trained volunteers come in, visiting homes throughout SLO County for up to four hours per week to provide short-term relief or respite care to primary caregivers while also lending consistent and compassionate support to both the loved one with dementia or other life-limiting illness and their family. Grief counseling and anticipatory grief counseling are available to family caregivers in the community and can help them cope with loss and grief in healthy ways, moving forward after the death of a loved one in their own time and in their own way. 6. The HRC has identified homeless prevention including affordable and alternative housing, supportive services, and transitional housing as the main funding priority. Does your grant request meet this funding priority?* Yes No 7. Which other priority of the non-ranked HRC funding priorities does your request support? Please check the appropriate boxes:* Hunger and malnutrition prevention Supportive physical and mental health services for those in need Services for seniors and/or people with disabilities in need Supportive and developmental services for children and youth in need Services encouraging diversity, equity, and inclusivity in marginalized communities 8. Provide timeline for project * All grant funds requested herein will be expended by the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year. Caregiver Support and Grief Counseling are core services that our organization has been providing for decades. They are continuing programs representing services that are central to our organization’s fundamental mission. 9. Identify any partnerships/collaborations that are supporting this project/program and their roles * Our support services supplement and complement (but do not duplicate) other services provided in the community. Hospice SLO County works collaboratively in the informal community network, receiving a high volume of referrals from other community agencies, and referring clients to other agencies when appropriate. Hospice SLO County is the only volunteer hospice in SLO County and the only entity that offers a comprehensive suite of caregiver support services, including anticipatory grief counseling for caregivers from the time of their loved one’s diagnosis, regardless of prognosis. Our organization provides an additional layer of support to other agencies in the community and works collaboratively to provide the services in its "own lane" while referring clients to other agencies when their services are better aligned. As a volunteer hospice, the very foundation of our work is collaboration with other nonprofits and community agencies and resources. Our support services fill a niche in clients’ and caregivers’ care needs. Our community regularly expresses tremendous gratitude for the services we provide, which satisfy a crucial area not covered by other agencies. In the greater context of our Caregiver Support program, Hospice SLO County continues to both formally and informally collaborate with other local organizations in SLO County including the Alzheimer ’s Association, local hospitals and medical centers, and a variety of local health care providers to collectively support the needs in the community. Our dedicated Care Manager is an active participant and contributor to the SLO County Adult Services Council. We regularly receive referrals from (and make referrals to) Wilshire Health and Community Services, Central Coast Home Health and Hospice, CenterWell Home Health nursing care (formerly Kindred at Home), Coast Caregivers Resource Center, Dignity Health Home Health and Hospice, Area Agency on Aging, and other agencies in our community. We often work in tandem with home health and medical hospices, allowing clients to receive an additional suite of supplemental support services from us at no cost to them. We also regularly liaise with social services agencies such as Adult Protective Services, the Department of Social Services, Medi-Cal, CAPSLO Adult Day Center, Wisdom Adult Day Center (in Santa Maria), the Community Counseling Center, Meals that Connect, SLO Veterans Services, and Central Coast Veterans Helping Veterans. The members of our board also provide guidance to our organization in fostering connections throughout the community. 10. Describe your plan for sustainability beyond the City’s one-year award funding * Because Hospice SLO County is a social model hospice organization, we continually seek ways to secure future funding. Our main costs are related to personnel for our small staff. By combining funding from the City of SLO with funding from other sources, we will be able to reliably sustain the annual salaries for the key staff members of our Caregiver Support and Grief Counseling program. Hospice SLO County will continue to actively pursue grant funding from a variety of sources to sustain our services and rebuild our staff in the coming years. Necessity for client and caregiver support and grief counseling within our community have remained persistent year after year, and Hospice SLO County aims to do everything we can to fortify our institutional capacity to respond to the ongoing demand for services within our community. Our organization has roughly four decades of experience providing in-home volunteers for caregiver support. The Caregiver Support and Grief Counseling program for which we are seeking grant funding is not a new or experimental program; rather, it is highly established and impeccably run. We have comprehensive and well-established training program and onboarding protocol for new volunteers, and highly effective systems for managing existing volunteers and grief counseling clients. 11. Describe the plan for promoting this project, program, or service within the City of San Luis Obispo * We aim to operationalize the full-time Volunteer Services Manager, who serves a lead role in all aspects of the Caregiver Support program, volunteer training programs, and outreach efforts to promote all our free-of-charge services. As we attract and train new community members for our in-home volunteer program, we can increase the scope and reach of our in-home support services more deftly. We intend to conduct targeted outreach multiple times per year via mailers, social media ads, and radio/print ads to spread the word about our free of charge Caregiver Support and Grief Counseling services to under-served populations and under-represented geographic areas throughout SLO County. We also employ a Community Outreach Coordinator and a Marketing Coordinator who play vital roles in promotion of our programs, services, and fundraising initiatives. 12. Est. Number of people served through this project/program * 500 13. Est. Number of SLO City Residents served through this project/program * 200 Attachments Copy of Organization’s most recent complete fiscal year financial statement (for the previous year because it is the middle of the current fiscal year) including a statement of financial position/balance sheet, statement of revenue & expenses/income statement, profit & loss. Financial Statement * 1. FY24 P&L Budget Overview.pdf 34.61KB 1-page Organization Chart * 2. HSLO Org Chart_Feb2024.pdf 131.46KB Document Certifying Federal Tax-Exempt Status * 3. HSLO_IRS Determination Letter.pdf 42.4KB 1-page detailed budget for the program including how the total requested amount of grant would be spent.   Budget * 4. HSLO Program Budget_SLO City Hmn Svcs_Feb2024.pdf 64.17KB 1-page DEI statement that includes: Applicants’ understanding and application of DEI Affirming language that creates access and a sense of belonging in our community apart from grant Explain how this project will advance DEI in the City of SLO DEI Statement * 5. HSLO_Inclusivity,Equity,Diversity.pdf 535.3KB Jul '23 - Jun 24 Ordinary Income/Expense Income Bequests,Trust, Endowment 32,500.00 Fundraiser Income 130,000.00 Grants 250,000.00 Individual Donations 328,500.00 Total Income 741,000.00 Gross Profit 741,000.00 Expense Advertising/Publicity/PR 6,650.00 Audit/990/Legal 6,500.00 Background Health Check 2,000.00 Contracts/Dues/Subscriptions 45,863.00 Counseling Services 500.00 Employee Expenses 515,625.00 Fees & Permits (Lic./Taxe/Bank)1,330.00 Fundraiser Expenses 31,250.00 Insurance 24,990.00 Mileage Reimbursement 500.00 Office Supplies 7,000.00 Printing 500.00 Repairs/Maintenance 10,000.00 Rupe Care Expenses 52,598.00 Training/Education 300.00 Utilities 12,334.00 Volunteer Services 2,000.00 Total Expense 719,940.00 Net Ordinary Income 21,060.00 Net Income 21,060.00 1:57 PM HOSPICE OF SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY 10/11/23 Profit & Loss Budget Overview Accrual Basis July 2023 through June 2024 Page 1 Program Expense Grant Request Matching/Source Caregiver Support Expenses Care Manager (full-time) $ 48,500.00 $ - Rupe Grant - fully funded Volunteer Services Manager (full-time) 58,240.00$ $ 10,000.00 Fundraising, donations, bequests, other grants Training Materials/Background checks (50 volunteers x $175 ea.) $ 8,750.00 $ - Fundraising, donations, bequests, other grants Subtotal $ 115,490.00 $ 10,000.00 Grief Counseling Expenses Counseling Director (full-time) $ 85,000.00 $ - Fundraising, donations, bequests, other grants Program Coordinator (full-time) 52,000.00$ $ - Fundraising, donations, bequests, other grants Clinical Supervisors (2x part-time) $ 49,400.00 $ 10,000.00 Fundraising, donations, bequests, other grants Grief Counseling Interns (3x hourly) 12,000.00$ $ - Fundraising, donations, bequests, other grants Electronic Health Record 10,000.00$ $ - Fundraising, donations, bequests, other grants Program Materials/Supplies 2,000.00$ $ - Fundraising, donations, bequests, other grants Marketing & Outreach Expenses $ 1,000.00 $ - Fundraising, donations, bequests, other grants Subtotal $ 126,400.00 $ 10,000.00 Total Program Expenses $ 241,890.00 $ 20,000.00 2024-25 Human Services Grant, City of San Luis Obispo Statement on Inclusivity, Equity, and Diversity Hospice of San Luis Obispo County is dedicated to fostering inclusivity, equity, and diversity in all of our efforts. These values are integral to the support services we provide to the community around dying and grieving. We understand that death and grief are a natural part of the human experience, regardless of anyone’s race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, socioeconomic status, political affiliation, citizenship, national origin, religion, language, intellectual or physical capacity, professional status, background, or beliefs. It is from this understanding that we empower our staff, volunteers, and affiliates to be indiscriminately supportive of any and all members of our community who are facing a life limiting illness, caring for a loved one, or experiencing grief. Empathy, advocacy, and compassion are at the core of HSLO’s existence as an organization and community resource. We promote an inclusive and welcoming environment that embraces diverse perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds. We actively cultivate diversity among our dedicated staff and growing family of hospice volunteers, and value an educational environment that challenges all forms of bias, including both intentional and unintentional bias. HSLO is dedicated to a path of learning about and confronting implicit bias, privilege, and systemic oppression, and is committed to striving towards social justice and inclusivity as an organization. We aim to equitably and impartially support the community in working with those near the end of life and the people who love them by providing in-home support, caregiver respite, grief counseling, support groups, community response, and education. By offering all of our services free of charge and not billing third party providers, we aim to be as inclusive as possible to all those members of the community who wish to avail of our support. As a volunteer non-medical hospice, we are able to provide support to those members of the community who may not qualify for or have the means to access medical hospice, respite, counseling, or care services from other agencies. We believe that the end of life deserves respect, and that everyone is worthy of access to support through life limiting illness, dying, and grief.