Holiday Hope: BridgingLife provides Carroll County with end-of-life support

Editor’s note: This story is part of a series that ran this month profiling the five local charities that will benefit from the 2023 Holiday Hope campaign, sponsored by The Carroll County Times and The Kahlert Foundation.

BridgingLife, formerly Carroll Hospice, provides health care services to those with serious illnesses in the region.

Ellen Finnerty Myers, executive director of The Kahlert Foundation, said BridgingLife offers an important service to many who need it.

“BridgingLife serves those that are at the end of life … it could be a senior or it could be a younger patient who has a chronic disease,” Myers said. “They really offer amazing care for those at the end of their life.”

The Kahlert Foundation supports BridgingLife with fundraising initiatives and is a partner in the Carroll County Times Holiday Hope Campaign.

Serving residents of Baltimore city and Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick counties and Pennsylvania, the organization aims to allow patients “to live out the remainder of their days as comfortably as possible, while providing support to their families,” according to its website.

Aaron Charles, medical director for BridgingLife, said many patients are covered by insurance, but BridgingLife does not turn away those who are not covered.

“We really do rely a lot on the generosity of the community to help us support those folks,” Charles said.

Hospice services are important not just to the sick and dying, but also to their loved ones who may need a well-deserved break from caregiving, Charles said.

The organization supports patients and families emotionally, physically, socially and spiritually, and offers hospice care (for individuals believed to have a life expectancy of six months or less) and palliative care (available at any point along the health care continuum).

“They have a great bereavement program, where they’re providing grief support to families and in the community,” Myers said. “They’ll go out, if there’s been a loss at a school or some kind of accident, they’ll go and provide support in that way.”

BridgingLife includes a special program to honor veterans who have reached the end of their lives, Myers added.

“They’re ensuring that veterans are being honored at the end of life, as they should be, in a very special way,” Myers said.

The Holiday Hope campaign provides unrestricted funds that organizations can use in areas that need the most assistance.
To participate in Holiday Hope, donate online at http://bit.ly/cctholidayhope or write a check payable to one of the organizations below and send to: Holiday Hope, 332-140 Village Road PM8179, Westminster, MD 21157. Include the form found inside the print edition of The Carroll County Times to receive a thank you card from the organization.