Community Hospices believes that terminally ill patients and their loved ones deserve comfort, compassion and dignity during their end of life care. As a practice, hospice care can be traced back to 1967 when Dr. Cicely Saunders established Saint Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham, England. Saint Christopher’s Hospice became the model for comprehensive end-of-life care. When asked why she chose the name “hospice,” Dr. Saunders replied “…this will be something between a hospital and a home, with the skills of one and the hospitality, warmth, and time of the other.”

The Community Hospices’ parent company, The Washington Home located in Northwest Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit organization founded in 1888 to provide long-term care and care to the terminally ill. The Washington Home organization also includes The Washington Home Center for Palliative Care Studies, which was founded to improve quality care for people near the end of life.

The Hospice of Washington, established in 1978 at The Washington Home, is the cornerstone of Community Hospices. Today known as Community Hospice of Washington, it was one of the first inpatient hospices in the United States and is regarded as a national leader in the hospice movement. In 2001, The Washington Home expanded its hospice care services into Maryland and Virginia.

Today Community Hospices includes Community Hospice of Washington, Community Hospice of Maryland, and Community Hospice of Virginia. We serve more than 300 patients and their families each day throughout the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia region.