Founded in 1899, Calvary Hospital is the nation's only fully accredited acute care specialty hospital singularly devoted to providing palliative care to adult, advanced cancer patients without regard to race, religion, or economic status. Calvary's continuum of care includes inpatient care, outpatient care, care of complex wounds, home care, hospice, nursing home hospice, bereavement care, and extensive support programs for patients, families, and friends. What distinguishes Calvary from other healthcare facilities is the individual care we provide each patient and family, founded in the guiding principles of compassion, respect for the dignity of every patient, and non-abandonment of our patients and families. Calvary leads the way in offering a complete array of supportive outreach, psychological, and spiritual services, together known as "palliative care." Their primary goal is to make the patient as physically comfortable as possible, and to address with dignity the psychological and spiritual needs of the patient and, equally important, the needs of their families. Patients are referred to Calvary from every major hospital and medical center in New York City. In 2008, Calvary cared for more than 5,300 patients and families as inpatients in our 200-bed Bronx campus and our 25-bed satellite at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn, as outpatients, through our Center for Curative and Palliative Wound Care; and through hospice and home care. The average length of inpatient stay is 26 days. Our patients came from across the New York tri-state area: the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan Westchester, Brooklyn, and Long Island as well as from other locations. They ranged in age from 20 to 108, with a majority (82%) over age the age of 55. Minorities (including Asian, African American, and Hispanic) made up 46% of all inpatients. Nutrition |
