Becoming East End Hospice...the early years

As reflected by Michael J. Cruise

"There is a better way...Hospice care." So said Claudia Sawicki, RN, in response to Dorothy Savage's exasperated pleas during her husband Hugh's end-of-life struggle with terminal cancer.

This comment resulted in the formation of East End Hope for Hospice, a community meeting advertised in church bulletins, to gather support for this new venture. We found ourselves with an ad-hoc committee of about 10 and a lot of community encouragement. David Hall, Jeanne Waller, and Dorothy Savage were most active. With his legal knowledge, David obtained our 501c3 status and researched the means to attain hospice certification. Jeanne spearheaded fundraising and public relations.

Remember, hospice care mainly was unknown thirty-five years ago on the East End.

We were making progress on the public relations side. Dorothy, Claudia, Jeanne, and yours truly were doing public speaking, and it was working well. However, on the certification side, we were dealt a significant blow. David advised us that we needed a minimum of $150,000 in the bank in order to file. Some committee members were ready to "throw in the towel." I said "no," and so did the majority of committee members. Community support was strong. When we needed free office space, equipment, supplies, etc., it always came our way. It was unreal!

Enter Susan McAllister, a good friend of Jeanne Waller and Norman Leavitt. Susan's brother "Sandy" Davidson had a terminal disease and was near the end. She was committed to helping the terminally ill and agreed to run and donate the net proceeds from two Designer Show Houses to EEH. They took a lot of work and many volunteers. They were extremely successful and gave us the means to go forward. Susan was our savior, and the East End is eternally grateful.

Now, we needed to find a director. After advertising in the appropriate medical resources, we found Priscilla Ruffin, RN. Priscilla took on the challenges of obtaining certification and developing from scratch a multi-faceted, not-for-profit, free-standing Hospice that would never say "no" to a terminally ill patient.

In September 1991, NYSDOH gave us the nod. We had been officially recognized as East End Hospice. That was 30 years ago.

The rest is history.

East End Hospice extends heartfelt appreciation and admiration to our early pioneers Claudia, Dorothy, Mike, David, Jeanne, Susan, and Priscilla – and the legions of supporters, past and present, who've helped us show our friends, neighbors, and loved ones, "There is a better way."

Above photo: EEH founder: Dorothy P. Savage

Thirty-plus years later, Michael Cruise is EEH's longest-serving volunteer. Wearing many volunteer hats throughout the decades, Mike was one of our earliest advocates, a founding Board Member then President of the East End Hope for Hospice Board. After certification, he became President of the Hospice Board, stepping down in 1993.He continued serving as a member of EEH's Finance Committee, Speakers Bureau, a Patient Family Volunteer, a Camp Good Grief Volunteer, a Bereavement Volunteer, and most recently, he helps at our Kanas Center for Hospice Care or combs the shores of the Atlantic Ocean for shells for our children's bereavement program.

Mike's precious gifts of time and presence have added immeasurably to the strength of East End Hospice. We are extremely grateful for his continued friendship and support.

For 30 years, East End Hospice has been improving lives through expert care, comfort and compassion for terminally ill patients and their families We support more than 95 families* across Eastern Long Island each day. Your gift to EEH helps make hospice care available free of charge to every member of our community managing terminal illness. DONATE NOW.

*According to EEH 2020 census data.