In Its 75th Year, Central Coast VNA & Hospice Expands Awareness of In-Home Palliative Care

As the organization marks seven decades of service, growing demand across four counties calls for earlier, more informed access to serious illness support.

MONTEREY, CA, UNITED STATES, April 7, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Central Coast VNA & Hospice, a nonprofit home healthcare provider serving Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito, and South Santa Clara counties, is drawing renewed attention to its palliative care services as families across the region report growing difficulty navigating the options available to patients living with serious or chronic illness.

This year marks the organization's 75th anniversary. Since its founding in 1951, Central Coast VNA & Hospice has delivered home-based clinical care to patients who might otherwise lack access to it. That mission remains especially urgent across a four-county footprint where in-home healthcare has historically been limited relative to the size and spread of the senior population.

Palliative care remains one of the most widely misunderstood areas of medicine. Many patients and families are unaware that it can begin at any stage of a serious illness — not only at end of life — that it operates alongside existing medical treatment rather than replacing it, and that it can be delivered in the home. Central Coast VNA & Hospice provides palliative care through an interdisciplinary team that includes registered nurses, nurse practitioners, medical social workers, and chaplains. Care plans are individualized to each patient and reviewed regularly as needs change.

The program encompasses:

• Symptom management and pain relief, coordinated with the patient's physicians
• Serious illness care planning with the patient and their family
• Emotional and psychosocial support from medical social workers
• Spiritual care and chaplaincy services
• Ongoing coordination between the care team and the patient's existing providers

The service area reflects a geography that is easy to underestimate. From the agricultural communities of San Benito County to the rural stretches of South Santa Clara, many of the families Central Coast VNA & Hospice serves do not have nearby hospital systems or specialist networks to rely on. For them, in-home palliative care is not a preference. It is often the most practical path to skilled clinical support.

"Families across the Central Coast are too often navigating serious illness without a clear sense of what is available to them. Palliative care delivered at home can provide real relief, honest conversation, and a care team that works alongside everyone already involved in a patient's life. In our 75th year, we want every family in this region to know that this support exists — and that it can begin long before a crisis."
— Jane Russo, Chief Executive Officer, Central Coast VNA & Hospice

Research across the home healthcare sector has found that patients who receive palliative care early in the course of a serious illness often experience better symptom control and more informed communication between families and medical teams. Despite this, access to in-home palliative care remains uneven in many communities, particularly in regions without major hospital systems nearby.

Central Coast VNA & Hospice works in close coordination with each patient's primary care physician and treating specialists, functioning as an added layer of support rather than a replacement for existing care. The organization also provides home health care, hospice care, and bereavement support — offering families consistent clinical and emotional care across every stage of serious illness, all delivered at home.

Families seeking information about palliative care services, eligibility, or insurance coverage — including Medicare and Medi-Cal — are encouraged to contact Central Coast VNA & Hospice directly.

Jane Russo
Central Coast VNA & Hospice
+1 831-372-6668
email us here
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