Donor Impact Report
2023 Accomplishments and Our Vision for the Years Ahead
This year’s report is dedicated to you, one of our most precious partners, without whom none of our accomplishments would be possible.
CELEBRATING 125 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP IN PALLIATIVE CARE
This year marks an incredible milestone for Calvary: 125 Years of dedicated service to adults on their final journey. Thank you for celebrating this sacred mission with us.
We have come far since our humble beginnings when Annie Blount Storrs opened a home for the dying at 5 Perry Street in the West Village of Manhattan. Yet, at our core, our values and our mission remain the same. It is painful to think about, but when Calvary was founded, patients deemed “incurables” were tossed out on the streets to die alone. With the generosity of caring donors, 5 Perry — and eventually 7 Perry as well — became extraordinary places of compassionate and merciful respite. No patient was ever forgotten.
This was the birth of our steadfast commitment to palliative care and non-abandonment. Today, our doors are always open to those in need of expert end-of-life care, delivered with love and compassion. All patients receive the same exceptional care regardless of income or insurance. And for those who have no family, we are their family.
In this report, we acknowledge the decades of struggling to survive with the sole purpose of helping hundreds of thousands of sick and dying individuals to find comfort and peace in their final days. We are so proud of this accomplishment.
That’s why we are securing our future and strengthening this irreplaceable organization, and its service to our community. Moving forward, Calvary will more closely align with ArchCare, The Continuing Care Community of the Archdiocese of New York, to better address challenges facing healthcare providers across the country. Calvary’s mission is consistent with that of the ArchCare network, which provides holistic care to frail and vulnerable individuals. We both share a commitment to improving quality of life for those entrusted to our care and their families.
A key ingredient in our longevity has been the dedicated support of caring donors. Today, nonprofit Calvary still relies on generous supporters like you to deliver our world-renowned and award-winning end-of-life care. There is no other hospital or hospice like Calvary that offers both intensive 24/7 hospital care and home hospice services.
Donor support is at the heart of our existence and everything we do. You matter to us!
IN 2023, DONOR SUPPORT GUARANTEED OUR UNIQUE APPROACH
- Calvary touched the lives of over 5,000 patients and families across the Metro area.
- Acute care was given to over 2,409 adults at our Bronx hospital and Brooklyn campus.
- We admitted an average of 230 new patients each month in need of our unique care.
- We were close to capacity with 92% of our beds filled, underscoring how many of our neighbors need end-of-life care.
- More than 1,000 dedicated nurses, doctors, counselors, social workers, care technicians, chaplains, therapists, and other medical associates relieved pain and brought comfort.
- Nearly 40% of Calvary patients had cancer, and 1 in 10 needed special wound care.
CALVARY HOSPICE
Founded in 1998, Calvary Hospice continues to be an essential part of our unique continuum of care for the terminally ill. When a patient is in the hospital, the nursing staff cares for them. When a patient is at home, it’s the family’s responsibility to provide the daily care. That’s a big job for the caregivers, but it’s one they’re willing to take on as a final gift to someone dear who has asked to be at home.
Thanks to you and other compassionate donors, we made that possible for over 5,000 patients and families in need of expert care last year.
Our hospice team helped shoulder the burden by providing equipment, medication management, and round-the-clock access to medical professionals throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, Westchester, Rockland, Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau, and over 30 nursing homes.
Dedicated nurses visited twice a week on average (more in the beginning and end, as needed). Families also received the help of our full home hospice team, including social workers, pastoral care counselors, nutritionists, music and physical therapists, and grief counselors.
Calvary has the only hospice program directly connected to an acute care hospital. This allows us to provide seamless transfer of patients when their condition requires 24/7 acute care services. Published data verifies that Calvary Hospice continues to exceed national and regional measures for the relief of symptoms. Thank you for your support.
Making a Home, not a Hospital
Madame Garnier, Annie Blount Storrs, and the Incurables
The origins of Calvary don’t begin in New York, but in Lyon, France. There, a young widow named Madame Garnier transformed the pain of losing her husband and two children, and devoted herself to caring for “incurables” left on the street or in sordid dwellings to meet their end. Soon, she was joined by other widows, becoming the Dames du Calvaire, or Women of Calvary.
The women actively sought donations to aid the sick and abandoned, and eventually gained support from the Archbishop of Lyon. By the time Madame Garnier died in 1853, the Houses of Calvary had expanded. It was in Belgium that our Foundress, Annie Blount Storrs, was trained to dress wounds, clean patients, hold their hands, and soothe their hearts.
Annie studied how to run an institution with the ambition to care for the dying in New York. After five years of pleading with “ecclesiastical authorities” and a gift of $15,000 from Adrian G. Islin Sr. to renovate the buildings — over $500,000 today — Annie and the New York Women of Calvary received eight patients in 1899. Already there were waiting lists! Although Catholic, Calvary Hospital was then, as now, non-sectarian.
From our first days, Calvary was funded by people from all walks of life. Early on, Annie received a letter from a woman in a small town in Mississippi whose mother had died from cancer. She had been so moved by the compassion and comfort offered to others at Calvary, that she enclosed a two-dollar bill with her letter of praise.
125 years later, donor gifts large and small still sustain us. Your generosity makes a difference.
SUPPORTIVE REPRIEVE FOR OUR FAMILIES
Calvary has long recognized that the end of someone’s life is an experience that changes their family and loved ones. To help those who are grieving, we pioneered a new level of care for families when we opened our Family Care Center 20 years ago. With your help, over 5,000 family members found refuge and rejuvenation at the Family Care Center last year.
Best of all, with donor support, the Center was able to expand its hours to enable more family members and loved ones to find a vital respite from their overwhelming stress and pain.
Staffed by a team of dedicated social workers, the Center offers special programs like aromatherapy and progressive muscle relaxation, giving families the emotional health and strength to be there for their loved one when they are needed most. And we’ve continued to deliver innovative techniques with the launch of our Anticipatory Grief program, which helps families prepare for loss before it happens — and often before they think help is even needed.
The Family Care Center and the many life-changing services it offers are supported exclusively by donor dollars. Please be generous.
LOSS IS UNIVERSAL, BUT GRIEF IS UNIQUE
In addition to individual spiritual counseling, Calvary offers free bereavement services for adults, children, and teens who have lost loved ones to illness, accident, or violence. These 25 support groups and other programs are wonderful resources for grieving families, whether they be patients, caregivers, and survivors from our Calvary family, or someone from the larger community who has suffered a loss. In the summer, Camp Compass® provides a safe, nurturing environment for children of diverse backgrounds to validate feelings, offer hope, and have fun for the week. Last year, nearly 300 people — including more than 50 children — took part in our group and individual sessions.
Thanks to your support, Calvary expanded its bereavement training program to educators, counselors, social workers, and those in professional caregiving roles throughout the Metro region.
THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY MATTERS JUST AS MUCH
In 2023, our Pastoral Care staff provided spiritual and emotional support to more than 1,500 patients and families. Every comprehensive care team included a member of the Pastoral Care staff to be a compassionate non-judgmental presence, available 24/7. Our chaplains — 22 in all, from various faiths and backgrounds — remain the key to our relationship with both patients and families. They met with every patient and family within the first day of admission, usually within the first few hours. As a result, they were able to provide understanding and respect for the spiritual needs of those in our care.
This is the kind of treatment that should be standard in every hospital, but simply isn’t. Your gifts help escort people into eternity with a deeper faith and a lighter heart.
After a pandemic pause, we resumed our monthly memorial services to honor those who’ve passed. Services included rituals for every faith tradition, and members of the Pastoral Care team attended every service to support those who were struggling.
In coordination with our Social Work and Therapeutic Recreation teams, we expanded our practice of contacting family members who do not live nearby so they could enjoy precious moments with their loved ones. This initiative began during the pandemic, and was immensely popular with our patients who deeply appreciate the time to connect with loved ones.
“On behalf of my whole family, I extend thanks to Calvary for the care you provided to my dad. He was going through so much pain, yet somehow you made him comfortable. He has departed with dignity and pride. I am honestly grateful for everyone who made it possible for his ending days to be so peaceful as he made his transition.”
ALICIA, FAMILY MEMBER
THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTIONS TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF LIFE
Our Therapeutic Recreation program, which operates every day of the week, saw even more growth in the last year. A total of 5,266 patients and families participated in activities like arts and crafts, group games, movies, and horticulture. The activities provided opportunities for socialization, relaxation, and cognitive stimulation, while decreasing stress and isolation. Most importantly, they enabled patients and family members to have experiences outside of the hospital room and create positive memories together.
For patients with dementia, we provided more than 250 individual therapeutic sessions. These one-on-one activities focus on orientation to time, mental stimulation, and gentle movement, helping to increase socialization and relaxation. This program would not have been possible without donor support.
“Often, people express how happy they were to attend therapeutic events. You see them laughing, talking to some of their other fellow patients. You have some people that are real comedians and hams, and they love an audience. Even the ones who are very quiet, I’ll take them back to their room later and they will say,‘Thank you very much for bringing me down today.’”
CLAUDIA JUSTY, STORRS DONOR & VOLUNTEER
MUSIC THERAPY
Music can have a powerful, positive effect on a person’s psychological and physical health. For our patients, it can provide relaxation, the reduction of pain, improved stress management, and enhanced memory, communication, and expression of emotions. Through our partnership with Music That Heals, we brought live, professional musical performances to our patients each week last year. For patients who are unable to get out of bed, our music therapists delivered one-on-one sessions at their bedside. A total of 1,246 patients enjoyed music therapy sessions and supportive visits in 2023 — all thanks to you.
JEWISH SERVICES
When terminal illness strikes, families are thrown into a state of emotional turmoil that limits their abilities to prepare for their loved one’s death. For Jewish patients and families who come through our doors, Calvary honors their faith tradition in every way possible.
With your support, we prepared Kosher meals for patients and families. And thanks to a partnership with Albert Einstein College of Medicine, we were able to offer families a hospitality house on the university’s campus — only steps away from Calvary — to stay over for the Sabbath and Jewish holidays.
When a patient passed, we offered to assist the family with final arrangements, as Calvary does with our patients of every faith. Our support was especially meaningful for Jewish families, as burial traditionally takes place as close to death as possible.
EDUCATING MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS
The Palliative Care Institute (PCI) was founded with the mission of transmitting, through education and research, Calvary Hospital’s extraordinary competence in the care of patients with advanced disease. More healthcare professionals are trained at the PCI in how to relieve the suffering of patients and families nearing end of life than at any other institution in the world. In fact, Calvary’s PCI continues to be a major teaching center in palliative care for the entire New York metropolitan area.
Last year, the PCI trained more than 1,000 medical students, residents, and fellows in the management of pain and suffering associated with advanced illness. The PCI hosted hundreds of EMS professionals from the New York City Fire Department Emergency Medical Services in end-of-life care training, which is a formal part of the EMS curricula.
The Palliative Care Institute’s training programs have been identified as “An international center for training in palliative care” by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Physicians and nurses from other countries travel to Calvary Hospital for weeks and months at a time to observe and study Calvary’s model of palliative care through the PCI.
Through the PCI teaching programs, Calvary can expand its mission and assist in relieving the suffering of patients and families throughout the world.
Donor support allows us to offer these programs free of charge to participants, which helps spread knowledge of Calvary’s unique care around the nation and the world.
PLANNED GIVING — EXTENDING YOUR LEGACY
We are eternally grateful to members of The Society of 1899 who have included Calvary in their estate plans. If you have decided to leave Calvary in your will, or if you would like more information on how to make a bequest or other planned gift, please let us know. There are many ways to create a legacy that will benefit both your family and Calvary.
Reach out to Amy Cassidy, Director of Development, at (718) 518-2077 or email her at acassidy@calvaryhospital.org.
ACCREDITATIONS & PARTNERSHIPS & AWARDS
Over the years, Calvary has been recognized as the gold standard in palliative care.
Your gifts have made it possible for Calvary to…
- Partner with 44 healthcare organizations to educate palliative care practitioners, raise awareness of end-of-life care, and expand services to more communities.
- Maintain affiliations with 15 local, state, and national organizations to support patients, families, and staff, while advocating for better palliative care policies, and educating communities about end-of-life care.
- Secure National status designation under the CURES Act, ensuring consistent reimbursements through government-supported healthcare programs.
- Win the Circle of Life Award from the American Hospital Association.
- 12 consecutive Guardian of Excellence Awards.
- Receive designation as an International Center for Training in Palliative Care.
- Achieve a Gold Seal of Approval from The Joint Commission, the nation’s oldest and largest accrediting body.
STORRS SOCIETY
As Annie Blount Storrs was the cornerstone of Calvary, it only makes sense that the exceptional members of the Storrs Society are its enduring foundation. Last year, generous Storrs Society members donated more than $2.5 million in support of our vital mission, providing the underpinnings for the many programs discussed in this report. While members enjoy recognition in Calvary publications and invitations to exclusive events, the true reward is knowing your gift guarantees our gold standard of care for all who come through our doors. Every accomplishment, innovation, and expansion are made thanks to the steadfast support of the Storrs Society.
If you would like to become a member or renew your membership, please contact Christopher Ayson in the Calvary Fund Office by phone at (718) 518-2680, or email him at cayson@calvaryhospital.org.
“Here at Calvary, we think of any kind of distress as pain. We talk about spiritual pain, we talk about psychic pain, anything that can really be distressing. Palliative and hospice care is really all about alleviating all those things that cause distress.”
DR. ERIC GOLDMAN, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, CALVARY HOSPITAL
STANDING STRONG TO FACE THE CHALLENGES AHEAD
As a caring member of our Calvary Family, you know Calvary faces harsh industry headwinds to reduce services and cut costs. Still, we remain steadfast in our commitment to offer only exceptional, world-renowned care that is as kind as it is excellent.
Calvary’s invigorated alliance with ArchCare will allow us to do more than just address the challenges; we will also be able to expand our reach to embrace more adults and families in need – because nothing matters more than dignity at end of life.
Every day, our uncompromising care costs increase while only a percentage is reimbursed. This is a significant burden, but one we are proud to bear with the support of our donors. Dignity at the end of life does not fit neatly into a balance sheet.
It should come as no surprise that patients in not-for-profit hospices receive substantially better care than at profit-based hospices. A report published last year by The RAND Corporation concluded as much. End-of-life care is the costliest palliative care there is. A profit-based hospice will just cut back on services and raise their rates when costs go up — but not Calvary.
Donor support is the reason we can uphold our commitment to excellence, now and in the future.
Over recent decades, Calvary has led a movement to show that palliative care is not just for end of life. It can improve the life of anyone suffering from a serious illness. A study by UCLA found that patients with advanced lung cancer lived longer and enjoyed a higher quality of life when receiving curative and palliative treatments. The authors wrote, “People who received palliative care from the beginning lived longer than the people who did not. This reframed our entire approach to patients, showing us that palliative care support should begin much sooner.”
We anticipate more than 6,000 patients will need CalvaryCare® in 2024 — a number that will rise in the coming years. Through this Donor Impact Report, we are aiming to raise $300,000 by April 15, which will guarantee humane, compassionate, loving care for those facing their final days. Please continue to be as generous as you can.
