State of Heart re-branding itself

A regional hospice will change its image and programs in an effort to serve the community better.
In conjunction with its anniversary, State of the Heart Hospice — which has a location at 1237 W. Indiana 67 in Portland and serves 15 counties — has undergone a rebranding process to respond to and better meet the needs of the community.
Laura Retter, director for business development for the agency, said the change came after speaking with community members and patients’ families who needed their services sooner but did not know what programs the agency offered or could not face the end of the patient’s life.
In response, the hospice has created a new title, logo, slogan and services for potential patients in Jay County. On Friday, the organization will become known as State of the Heart Care.
“The rebranding actually came out of a desire to expand our identity as a care provider,” said Retter. “We really wanted to expand our services and then the rebranding came as a natural progression out of that. Expanding the care that we provide meant that we really needed to change our brand image as well.”
The facilities are aiming to add two new services — enLIGHTEN and enABLE — by March, and all programs in conjunction with the company rebranding
The enLIGHTEN program will offer pre-hospice education, providing a nurse practitioner or another resource to educate the patient and family member about the illness and what to expect in the future. The enABLE service acts as a pain and symptom care program that can be offered without Medicare requirements for eligibility.
They will be added to the enCOMPASS program, a traditional hospice service, and the enCOURAGE service that provides grief support.
“You can see such a departure from what we had been, which was just that hospice program,” Retter said. “We discovered that obviously the name State of the Heart Hospice was no longer applicable to what we’re doing.”
The changes, Retter noted, are a transition from the traditional ideas of a hospice. The word, “hospice” has a negative connotation, she explained, usually considered depressing.
In addition to the more positive phrasing, the hope is to bring programs closer to residents so they don’t have to travel to larger cities.
“Together with the enCOMPASS and enCOURAGE program, our hope is people won’t have to go to Reid Hospital or to Ball Hospital to receive palliative care services,” Retter said. “They can receive them from their home or the facility or in the facility that they’re at in the local counties.”
Retter hopes that for the residents who aren’t familiar with the agency, changing its look and adding new services will make a good first impression. Retter noted aligning the brand image with the quality of care was an important aspect that needed to be changed.
“If we don’t reflect outwardly the great quality care that we know we’re providing … then we’re missing the mark for a lot of folks,” she said.