Hospice

CMMC Hospice is a service of Central Montana Medical Center located in Lewistown, Montana. CMMC Hospice, a not-for-profit 501c3 organization, serves both Fergus and Judith Basin Counties. Since 1985, through nearly four decades of service, CMMC Hospice has pursued a unique approach to end-of-life care: that the patient’s choice must be upheld, that no one should die alone or in pain, and that the needs of the entire family must be addressed. At CMMC Hospice, we are dedicated to sharing the journey with our patients and families, enabling them to live fully through all stages of illness.

It’s about living.

Our Mission

CMMC Hospice provides end-of-life care that enhances life. We strive to provide all services focused toward the individual patient’s wants and needs. We deliver care that addresses the whole patient including emotional, spiritual, and physical needs and preferences.

Our Vision

The vision of CMMC Hospice is to be the model rural hospice agency, providing compassionate, visionary, quality care structured around the patients’ and families’ needs.

What is Hospice?

The CMMC Hospice program of care is compassionate specialized health care and support for patients facing the advancing stages of any life-threatening illness. Our program also provides emotional and spiritual support to patients and their loved ones, including bereavement counseling following the patient’s death.

We care for patients in a setting of their choice. Whether in a private home, assisted living, nursing home, or hospital, we help people face the challenges of terminal illness with dignity. Members of the hospice team, such as, nurse, social worker, home health aide, volunteer, and chaplain, make regularly scheduled visits depending on the needs and wishes of the patients and their loved ones. We help by offering:

Scheduled Hospice Nurse visits focusing on comfort care for the patient
Home health aides to assist with personal care needs
Physical therapy training to keep the patient safe and comfortable
Social workers that facilitate access to resources, offer emotional support, and bereavement counseling
Chaplain visits to offer spiritual support
Volunteer support to give companionship and assistance
Medical equipment and supplies

“I didn’t know much about hospice before we signed up. I did not know all that they can do for you. It is the most wonderful organization I’d ever run into. They set up a hospital bed and other equipment. We had aides visit almost daily. The nurses visited regularly and were on call day and night. They all have such compassion. They set up the medications and trained me how to give them. It was just wonderful. I highly recommend hospice to other families.”

Loire, Caregiver

“There is nothing else that I have ever done that has given me the feeling of satisfaction both for myself and for the families.”

Lena, Hospice Volunteer

“It’s what I can do to help. It’s a worthy cause. That so many people in our community give makes our community strong.”

Diana, Hospice Supporter

Our Services

Nurses

Trained hospice nurses make regularly scheduled visits and are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They act as a liaison with the patient’s primary care provider enabling quick response to changes in medication or symptom management. Pain control and symptom management are the focus of the physical aspect of hospice care. Hospice nurses are also teachers and train the caregiver how to enhance the care of their loved one. Concentrating on living fully is easier when the patient is free of pain and comfortable.

Home Health Aides

Home Health Aides visit regularly, if needed, to help patients bathe and dress. The aides provide compassionate care that helps the patient live with dignity.

Therapists

Physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech therapists can assist the patients, as needed, to help them keep as safe and as comfortable as possible. These therapies can enhance the quality of life for our patients.

Social Services

Pain at end-of- life is not only physical but emotional and can occur when facing death and impermanency. Care is provided by degreed individuals such as social workers and Licensed Clinical Social Workers. Services are individualized, based on what the patient and their loved one’s desire. It may be anticipatory grief counseling, accessing resources, navigating financial challenges, talking with children about what is happening, conducting family meetings to address conflicting agendas and clarify patient goals, bereavement support, or exploring with the patient their fears and finding meaning within transitioning into end-of-life. Social workers support and focus on what matters most to you. For additional information, call our office at 406-535-6302 and ask to speak with Julia Valach, MSW, LCSW.

Chaplains

Non-denominational hospice chaplains offer spiritual support if the patient wishes. Following the hospice philosophy of treating the whole patient, we at CMMC Hospice address the physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing of our patients. Hospice chaplains strive to bring comfort, healing, peace and compassion to all they serve. Chaplains can be a liaison with the patient’s own spiritual caregiver or clergy. Chaplains can also visit regularly to offer spiritual care and counsel. Chaplains listen, read stories, hold hands, and offer prayer. Chaplains can offer funeral and memorial assistance.

Volunteers

Trained hospice volunteers assist patients and their families. Volunteers visit with patients, provide companionship, and allow the caregiver to have a break. Volunteers listen, read, take walks, or just sit quietly as a compassionate friend. Office and Bereavement Volunteers also assist patients and families, often by working behind the scenes. To learn more about volunteering with Hospice, please view the Volunteer Opportunities below.

Medical Equipment and Supplies

Hospice can provide a variety of durable medical equipment including beds, walkers, commodes, wheel chairs, and oxygen as needed.

Eligibility for Hospice Care

Any person facing the advancing stages of any terminal illness is eligible for hospice care. Hospice care is appropriate when:

The patient, family, and physician agree and understand that the focus is on comfort (pain control and symptom management), not cure.
The physician thinks the patient will live six months or less.

Who Pays for Hospice Benefits?

Hospice services are based on the patient’s health care needs, not their ability to pay. Reimbursement for services is available through Medicare, Medicaid and other insurance plans. Options for subsidized care are available for income-qualified patients. Our goal at CMMC Hospice is to provide hospice care to all seeking our services, regardless of their ability to pay. Donations from the community uphold this goal.

Hospice Team

Cathy Holmes, DO

Since 1990 – Hospice Medical Director

View Cathy Holmes, DO Details

Wendy Peterson, RN

Home Care Services Manager

View Wendy Peterson, RN Details

Shauna Halverson-Bruno, RN

View Shauna Halverson-Bruno, RN Details

Bobbe Donsbach Stulc, RN

View Bobbe Donsbach Stulc, RN Details

Eileen V. Stahl

Hospice Volunteer Coordinator & Fundraising

View Eileen V. Stahl Details

Carrie Belsted

Intake Coordinator

View Carrie Belsted Details

Christine Wichman

Departmental Assistant

View Christine Wichman Details

Amanda Larson, RN

View Amanda Larson, RN Details

Jami Sisty, RN

View Jami Sisty, RN Details

Deann Blythe, RN

Clinical Auditor

View Deann Blythe, RN Details

Rowena Kippenhan, LPN

View Rowena Kippenhan, LPN Details

Janelle Painter, MSPT

Physical Therapist

View Janelle Painter, MSPT Details

Stacey Metcalf, CNA

View Stacey Metcalf, CNA Details

Julia Valach, MSW, LCSW, MHPP

Hospice Social Worker

View Julia Valach, MSW, LCSW, MHPP Details

Michelle Vuong

Intake Coordinator

View Michelle Vuong Details

Kathleen Thackeray, OTR/L

Occupational Therapist

Jed D. Myers, OTR/L

Occupational Therapist

Chris Russell, PTA

Physical Therapist Assistant

Beca Holmquist, PT, DPT

Physical Therapy

View Beca Holmquist, PT, DPT Details

Brigette Owen, LPN

View Brigette Owen, LPN Details

Selina Vargas, M.S., CCC-SLP

Speech Language Pathologist

Michele Christman, LPN

Emily Hosfelt, CNA

View Emily Hosfelt, CNA Details

Amanda Deangelo

Occupational Therapy

Home Care Services Representatives of Patient Family Advisory Council

Sharon Killham
Pastor Alex Davies
William “Bill” Buck
Sally McBurney
Tom Wojtowick
Julie Van Dyke
Ralph Mihlfeld
Dorothy Bush

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Palliative Care?

Palliate means to lessen the pain without curing, to ease. Palliative care provides relief from the physical, emotional, and spiritual symptoms and pain that often accompany a serious illness. Where curative care works to treat a disease, palliative care works to relieve pain and other distressing symptoms. The goals of palliative medicine are to control symptoms, relieve suffering, and preserve the best possible quality of life for the patient. The term “comfort care” is often used to describe palliative care. Hospice care is palliative care but not all palliative care is hospice care. A patient can receive palliative care to ease and relieve pain and other symptoms while continuing to receive curative care. When a patient chooses hospice care, they discontinue the curative care and focus only on the palliative aspects of care.

Why do terminally ill patients choose hospice care?

Hospice is the “something more” that can be done for the patient and family when the illness cannot be cured. Hospice is a concept based on comfort-oriented care. Hospice is a compassionate approach to managing the pain and physical symptoms of terminal illness. Hospice focuses on respecting the individual’s wishes and maintaining dignity by helping to control pain, manage symptoms, and provide emotional and spiritual support. Hospice care focuses on quality of life issues.

What does the hospice admission process involve?

Upon request for hospice care, CMMC Hospice will contact the patient’s primary care physician to make sure they agree that hospice care is appropriate for this patient, at this time. An appointment will then be set for CMMC Hospice to visit with the patient and family to explain in detail what hospice provides and to answer any questions. If the patient and family feel that all curative measures have been exhausted and that comfort care is the focus, an admission to hospice will be completed. Consent forms will be signed and a plan of care focused on the needs of the patient will be developed in coordination with the patient’s primary care physician. Call 406-535-6302 regarding admission.

Do I need a referral for hospice care?

Patients are admitted to CMMC Hospice with a physician referral. We can help get this authorization, if needed. If you get a referral from anyone other than the patient’s primary care physician, CMMC Hospice will contact the primary physician and advise them of the referral. After the assessment visit, we will meet with the primary care physician to get their authorization for care and to develop the patient’s plan of care. Your primary care physician becomes an integral part of the hospice team.

Do I have to check my loved one into a hospice facility?

No, in fact, the majority of our patients receive hospice care in their own homes. CMMC Hospice strives to maintain the patient at the “home of their choice.” That “home” may be their private home, the home of a family member, an assisted living facility or a skilled nursing center (nursing home).

What is involved in caring for a loved one receiving hospice care at home?

The care necessary varies from patient to patient, but we work with the caregiver to develop a personal care plan built around the patient’s needs. Every patient of CMMC Hospice has an interdisciplinary team of experts assigned to his or her case. Care teams are made up of physicians, nurses, home health aides, social workers, and trained volunteers. We are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide the support you need. As the illness progresses, and if the care needed exceeds the caregiver’s ability or availability, the hospice social worker and the case manager RN can work with you to develop a plan to move the patient to another level of care.

Does CMMC Hospice have a residential facility?

How extensive is CMMC Hospice?

CMMC Hospice serves all of Fergus County and parts of Judith Basin County. There are 20 volunteers that devote their time, talents, and love to our program. As a department of Central Montana Medical Center, CMMC Hospice employs more than 20 dedicated staff members. We have the support and resources of Central Montana Medical Center to rely upon. We served more than 66 patients and their families in 2024.

How much does hospice care cost? Is it affordable?

Studies have shown that hospice care provides expert pain and symptom management and is more cost-effective than hospitalization. A recent report shows that hospice care actually reduces the health expenditures for patients in their last six months of life. Medicare and most health insurance carriers have benefits that cover most or all of the cost of hospice care. Ability to pay or having health care insurance are not criteria for admission to CMMC Hospice. This policy of serving all who need hospice care is made possible by the generous donations from the community and from the loved ones of former hospice patients.

Can a hospice patient who shows signs of recovery be returned to regular medical treatment?

Certainly, if improvement in the terminal condition occurs and the disease seems to be in remission, the patient will be discharged from hospice care. The regular intervention and supervision of the RN case manager and compliance with medication and symptom control often result in a significant improvement in the patient’s condition. If this improvement is sustained over a period of time, discharge is appropriate. If the discharged patient should later need to return to hospice care, they can be re-admitted.

Will pain medication leave my loved one incoherent or unable to talk?

We work to find the right balance for every patient, relieving pain without sacrificing alertness. This requires constant consulting between the hospice nurses, the patient and family, and their doctor.

What is an Advance Directive?

The term advance directive describes two types of legal documents that enable you to plan for and communicate your end-of-life wishes in the event you are unable to communicate:

– A Living Will allows you to document your wishes concerning medical treatments at the end of life
– A Medical Power of Attorney allows you to appoint a person you trust as your health care agent, who is authorized to make medical decisions on your behalf. This is also known as a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care or as a Health Care Proxy.

How can I help?

Community assistance is essential to our non-profit organization. You can help in a variety of ways—from becoming a volunteer to making a donation. Your support helps to ensure that we can continue to provide hospice care to all who need it in Central Montana. For more information please visit the Volunteer and Support Hospice sections.

Where are you located?

CMMC Hospice offices are located in the Central Montana Medical Center complex at 408 Wendell Ave., Lewistown. The CMMC Hospice entrance is at the northeast end of the building, in the lower level, under the Judith Peaks Rehab Center. Call 406-535-6302 for more information.

Hospice Events

Throughout the year, CMMC Hospice has events for our hospice program of compassionate specialized health care and support for patients facing life-threatening illness. The participation of our community in these special events gives a tremendous boost to this important work, and serves to heighten awareness of what hospice can do to help. You can help support these events by attending, volunteering, or by sponsoring with a donation. We appreciate your support.

Dec 2026

Tree of Lights Remembrance Chime Ceremony

6:00pm @ Celebration Church

View Event Details

Volunteer Opportunities

How do hospice volunteers serve?

CMMC Hospice serves both Fergus and Judith Basin Counties and has 20 volunteers from these two counties that devote their time, talents and love to our program. Volunteers help form the heart of hospice. A number of avenues of support are open to the volunteers of CMMC Hospice. Among them are:

Direct Services to Patients and Families

Trained hospice volunteers provide direct services to patients and their families through emotional support and respite care to allow caregivers time to themselves. Visits can include listening, reading aloud, taking walks, or quiet companionship. Non-denominational Hospice Chaplains offer spiritual support to the patient and families. The dedication and compassionate care of our volunteers support the well-being of our patients and their families in immeasurable ways.

Office/Bereavement Assistance

Hospice office volunteers provide support in areas including: reception, clerical, auditing, admit packets, mailings, special events, and donation acknowledgements. Bereavement volunteers assist the Volunteer Coordinator, Spiritual Coordinator, and Social Worker with mailings, calls, and special bereavement events. Some bereavement duties may require special training.

How do you become a hospice volunteer?

Contact the hospice volunteer coordinator, Eileen V. Stahl, at (406) 535-6302

Volunteers are required to participate in a training course on hospice care, dealing with such topics as: death and dying, communication skills, spiritual care, the grief process, and the role of the volunteer. Hospice new volunteer training courses are offered annually. Upon completion of the course, you may choose whether or not to become an active volunteer. After an interview with the Hospice Volunteer Coordinator and upon completion of CMS and organizational requirements, you will undergo an orientation process in your chosen area(s) of work. All volunteers participate in on-going continuing education opportunities provided by CMMC Hospice to enhance their skills.

Volunteering Brochure (PDF)

2026 Hospice Volunteer Newsletter (PDF)

Make a Donation

Each year, CMMC Hospice touches hundreds of lives, cushioning the emotional stress and grief surrounding a loved one’s death. We believe strongly in what we do and that hospice care in our community is making a lasting difference in the lives of many people. The services hospice provides are made possible each year through generous charitable contributions. Without community support, our services would be limited.

How to Donate

We are a not-for-profit 501c3 organization, so your gifts are tax deductible. You may donate by check or credit card.

By Mail (check)

You may send your check to: CMMC Hospice, 408 Wendell Ave., Lewistown, MT 59457

Online

Your donation will be processed through the Central Montana Medical Center secure processing system. Please designate the “Hospice General Fund”.

Donate Today

Please specify if this gift is a tribute or a memorial to someone. Your gift will be acknowledged in our publications unless anonymity is requested.

Other Gift Methods

Memorial Gifts

One of the most meaningful ways to support hospice is by designating CMMC Hospice as recipient of memorial gifts. In this way, family members and friends can help to ensure that those in need receive the special care they deserve.

Bequest

Leaving funds through a will is another option which may suit your needs as a donor. This may include money, securities, personal property or real estate. You may also wish to name Hospice as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy.

Charitable Contribution

A monthly monetary gift or a one-time contribution may be given. And, as with many donations, your gift to CMMC Hospice is tax deductible.

Securities

Donating stock or mutual funds allows you to avoid paying capital gains tax on the appreciation, and deduct full fair market value of the security at the time of the gift. This is an excellent way to leverage your gift in support of Hospice.