Community Hospices of America celebrated the establishment of a new branch at 66 Elkhorn Street, Welch Thursday, October 9th, by hosting a well-attended open house.
Community Hospice provides care for anyone in Mercer or McDowell Counties with a terminal diagnosis when the focus of care switches from curing an illness to providing comfort and peace. Hospice provides palliative care focused on symptom management and pain control. Together, the patient and his/her doctor decide when hospice care is needed.
Hospice services are a covered benefit of Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance companies or private pay. CHA provides services to anyone without regard to race, age, color, sex, national origin, disability or religion. The CHA office is located behind the Welch Police Department and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Their phone number is 436-2300.
“We’re here to give the people in McDowell County an opportunity to make a choice regarding end of life care,” Executive Director Gail Davidson, MSN, said during the ribbon cutting.

Davidson, (third from left) is pictured with Tonya Jackson, RN, BSN, Admission/QA; Kimberly Mullins, RN, Director of Clinical Services; Melissa Powell, Hospice Care Consultant; Pam Carter, Hospice Care Consultant and Office Operations Clerk Heather Mason. (Photo by Cathy Patton)