Health & Hospice is 30 years old

In November of 1975 Alida Millham, a nurse, and the late Bob St. Louis formed the Lakes Region Community Health Agency from the ashes of a bankrupt local social service agency called the Center for Human Resources. One month short of 30 years later, Millham last night stood before a large room full of people who, like herself, have played significant roles in seeing what we now know as Community Health & Hospice (CH&H) grow into a real dynamo.

They all came to the Inn at Church Landing to celebrate the 30th birthday of a non-profit, community-based agency that provides care and services "from birth to bereavement." From less than a handful, CH&H has grown to a point where it now has 145 employees and makes 47,000 home visits per year.

"I love this organization," declared Millham, who served as its executive director for 15 years.

CH&H's outgoing, two-term board chairman, Sheriff Dan Collis, began the meeting by saying he felt himself surrounded by heroes. He told the agency's staff that when board members walk into the headquarters building on North Main St. in Laconia they feel like they're "walking into a shrine". "You're doing God's work," he said.

Millham herself traced the history of the early years of the organization, fits and starts that began in 1958 and did not gain any real solid ground until 1975. She remembered chairing the first annual meeting before a small group of people gathered in the basement of The Tavern.

While working on a master's degree in Nursing Administration and raising a family in Gilford, Millham took over the executive director's post in 1982. She said she was quickly informed the fledging agency was again near insolvency.

Millham sought help from a Connecticut-based accountant who specialized in home health care agencies and, in addition to helping her get organized, he requested and received a $2,500 refund from Medicare that she now recognizes as a defining moment in CH&H's history. $2,500 doesn't seem like a lot of money today, she said, but nurses then were making $6.30 an hour.

"We haven't looked back since," Millham added.

Charlotte Leavitt came to the Lakes Region in 1989 to lead the nine-year-old Hospice-Laconia Area organization. The two women soon began planning a merger that would strengthen both groups.

Last night, Leavitt shared the stage with Millham and recounted how their two organizations came together as Community Health & Hospice "to do something really special". The merger between the Lakes Region Community Health Agency and Hospice-Laconia Area was completed in July 1992.

Margaret Franckhauser, who has served as CH&H's executive director since Millham retired in 1997, focused her remarks on the next 30 years.

Among other things, Franckhauser sees a "tidal wave" in the need for support services for the rising number of elderly. Baby boomers, she said, will ask more questions and make more demands.

She also said older women bearing more children and multiple births resulting from the use of fertility drugs are going to trigger an increasing demand for special services. "We're going to be serving more children with special needs," she said.

Franckhauser said that incentives for home-based health care are going to become more-and-more focused on keeping people out of emergency rooms. Home treatments for diseases such as congestive heart failure, asthma and diabetes will be at the top of the list.

Last nights festivities also served as the annual business meeting for Community Health and Hospice. Collis welcomed Leavitt as the incoming board chairman and Jack Rogers was recognized for 12 years of service on the Board of Directors.

Ray Marceau received recognition as the agency's Volunteer of the Year.

Community Health & Hospice is a Medicare certified provider of four programs, including Young Family Program, Home Care, Support Services and Hospice. More information is available online at "www.chhnh.org".