Our Mission 

The mission of Hospice Buffalo is to provide hope, care, and dignity to patients with a life-threatening illness and their families.

Founded in 1978, Hospice Buffalo, Inc., was one of the first Hospice programs created in the United States.

Hospice Buffalo offers comprehensive, compassionate care for people nearing the end of their lives. We serve residents of Erie County without regard to age, race, religion, ethnicity or type of disease. Hospice care is available in homes, hospitals, area nursing homes, adult facilities and The Mary and Ralph Wilson, Jr. Hospice Inpatient Unit in Cheektowaga, NY.

Each patient has an interdisciplinary team that includes a physician, nurse, social worker and grief support counselor. Many patients also use the services of aides and volunteers. Hospice staff are on call 24 hours a day, every day.

Most patients are cared for at home. Some choose to live at the Hospice Mitchell Campus in Cheektowaga, NY, or in one of 40 area nursing homes with which Hospice Buffalo is affiliated. Hospice Buffalo is also affiliated with many hospitals in and around the Buffalo area to provide short inpatient stays for Hospice patients whose pain and symptoms cannot be controlled at home.

Hospice treats the person, not the disease, addressing the social, emotional and spiritual needs of the patient as well as the physical condition. Patients, or their designated surrogates, make the final decisions regarding care.

Hospice offers comprehensive palliative treatment; our goal is care, rather than cure. We use sophisticated pain and symptom control protocols to help keep the patient alert and comfortable as long as possible. We are also active with psychosocial and spritual support.

Hospice is covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most commercial insurance plans and HMOs. If a patient has no health insurance, or if the health insurance does not cover all the costs of hospice care, Hospice Buffalo will work with the patient and family to develop a payment plan. We rely on charitable donations raised from individuals and organizations to assist our patients and their families.

Physicians who refer patients insured by Medicare to Hospice are asked to certify that the patient has a terminal illness with a prognosis of six months or less. However, there is no limit to the length of time a patient is covered for Hospice care. A patient who lives longer than six months after joining the Hospice program can be recertified, as long as the diagnosis continues to be a progressive terminal illness.

To refer a patient to Hospice Buffalo:

Telephone: 686-8000
Fax: 686-8101
Location: 225 Como Park Boulevard
Cheektowaga, N.Y., 14227-1480