INTEGRIS Hospice provides care for more than 1,000 terminally ill patients and their families a year. INTEGRIS Hospice serves a nine-county area and provides end-of-life care for hundreds of persons from all walks of life.
INTEGRIS Hospice Services are certified by Medicare, accredited by The Joint Commission and licensed in Oklahoma. The INTEGRIS Hospice program is also a member of the Oklahoma Hospice and Palliative Care Association, as well as the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.
On Feb. 6, 1990, at an Oklahoma County Medical Society Board meeting, James W Hampton, M.D., stressed the importance of re-establishing a local hospice and recommended plans to carry out that mission. A few months later, OCMS members combined efforts to re-establish a community-wide, non-profit hospice. Thus, Hospice of Oklahoma County came to be. The society's physicians were among the first in the Oklahoma medical community to recognize the need for care of the dying. They are considered by some as pioneers in hospice care.
Under the leadership of William Coleman, M.D., Robert McCaffree, M.D., Richard Trautman, M.D. and Hampton, and an impressive fifty-member advisory board, they promised their expertise and guidance to make Hospice of Oklahoma County a success. They kept their promise.
With the board in place, OCMS physicians pledged $120,000 for the new venture with an old philosophy. Local hospitals made additional contributions for the startup. Hospice of Oklahoma County opened its doors with a small staff and limited funding. Khader Hussein, M.D., became a volunteer medical director. He and the hospice team were integral in securing the agency's future through his leadership as medical director for its first five years. During that time they expanded the service area to serve portions of nine counties. In 1992, the United Way of Metro Oklahoma City accepted Hospice of Oklahoma County as one of its partner agencies providing hospice care and grief support to those without financial assistance.
In 1995, Hospice of Oklahoma County, Inc. became an affiliate of INTEGRIS Health, continuing the mission of enhancing the quality and dignity of life and death for the terminally ill and their families. In 2009, the INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center Volunteer Auxiliary fulfilled a dream by donating money to purchase Odyssey Healthcare of Oklahoma, which included the inpatient hospice unit now known as the INTEGRIS Health Hospice House.
