Reporter Volume 25, No.8 October 21, 1993

By MARY BETH SPINA
News Bureau Staff

Human organ transplants, new "wonder" drugs, artificial body implants,
and other advances in medical science are making longer, healthier
lives a reality for many patients.
	For those with a terminal illness, for whom there is no
"miracle" cure on the horizon, there is Hospice Buffalo Inc.
	The dedication, concern, compassionQand yes, perseveranceQof a
group of Western New Yorkers who began working together in 1976 have
expanded from an idea begun in England to a multi-service agency that
serves some 240 patients daily.
	Hospice Buffalo Inc. has grown from a home-care support unit
for adults terminally ill with cancer. Now it serves children,
adolescents and adults suffering from any type of terminal or
life-threatening illness and their home caregivers. 
	As patients require more skilled care, there are palliative
care beds in nearly a dozen area hospitals, in the hospice in-patient
unit in Alden and in more than 20 nursing homes in Erie County.
	Hospice Buffalo Inc. is the largest agency of its kind in New
York State. And there are plans on the drawing board to build what
will be a national hospice model on a 20-acre wooded site near
Appletree Business Park in Cheektowaga.
	Although some services provided to patients are totally or
partially reimbursed by various insurance coverages, no one who needs
hospice services is turned away because of inability to pay, says
Murray Howland, M.D., hospice associate medical director.
	Families can participate in all services, including a
correspondence program, lending library, one-to-one direct contact,
open support groups, educational support groups and grief education
days.
	Howland, a clinical professor in UB's School of Medicine and
Biomedical Sciences, explains that since grief differs from one person
to another, services offered vary and are flexible.
	Donations to Hospice Buffalo through SEFA help it pay for
services for which it is not reimbursed by insurance carriers. These
include bereavement services provided to families, as well as the
support provided by volunteers who annually contribute more than
17,000 hours of service. 	Many of the volunteers and health-care
providers associated with Hospice Buffalo, including medical director
Robert Milch, M.D., are affiliated with UB.
	Caring and sharing by designating Hospice Buffalo Inc. on your
SEFA donor card is vital to the continued growth of services to
patients and their loved ones.