About Us
Founded in 1990 by a dedicated group of volunteers, Rainbow Hospice Care is one of the state’s few remaining local, independent and non-profit programs. “Local” means we’re based right here in southern Wisconsin and only serve Dodge and Jefferson counties as well as portions of the surrounding counties of Columbia, Dane, Rock, Walworth and Waukesha. “Independent” means we don’t employ anyone or own anything that is required to use us. We do business the old-fashioned way - we have to earn it. “Non-profit” means we aren’t owned by stockholders or wealthy individuals who are expecting a return on their investment – we are governed by a Board of Directors comprised of local people who believe in giving back to the communities we serve.
Rainbow cares for people living in their homes, assisted living facilities, nursing homes and the Rainbow Hospice Care Inpatient Center in Johnson Creek. Among the many services we provide are advance care planning, supportive care management, hospice care, community bereavement support, and community health ministry.
Stories about the extraordinary care our doctors, nurses, CNAs, social workers, volunteers and spiritual care teams provide are regularly published in local newspapers including the Cambridge News, Daily Jefferson County Union, Lake Mills Leader and Watertown Daily Times. In the past year, perhaps you had a chance to read “Going to the Chapel”, a story about how Laurel Wessels, one of our chaplains, officiated a wedding at Alden Estates of Jefferson so that one of our patients, Don Behnke, and his wife, Mary, could hear their son, Chris, and his fiancée, Allie, say “I Do” before he passed. Or perhaps you had a chance to read “Get Your Motor Running”, a story about how Rainbow social workers Leslie Anderson and Sarah Phalin collaborated with some biker friends to provide Steve Cunningham, a Fort Atkinson Health Care Center patient and big-time Harley fan, one last motorcycle ride.
Over time, Rainbow Hospice Care - in collaboration with its partners in local clinics, hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities - has literally transformed Jefferson County into “an island of excellence for end-of-life care." That is, Jefferson County has become a place where more people receive hospice care at end-of-life than almost everywhere else in the United States. In fact, in 2019 Hospice Analytics, Inc. - an expert in all things related to hospice claims and data – shared that Jefferson County ranked 35th out of 3,143 counties nationally (Top 1.1%) in terms of the percentage (67.6%) of Medicare beneficiaries utilizing the Medicare Hospice Benefit, most of them with Rainbow.
Achievements like this do not happen overnight nor do they happen by accident.
They only occur in places where an organization is dedicated to the prevention of unnecessary suffering and knows how to work with others in pursuit of that goal.
They only occur in places where an organization is well known, respected and supported by the communities it serves.
They only occur in places where an organization understands that what matters most at end-of-life is creating an environment in which patients and families can attend to completing important unfinished business. That is, “saying the things that need to be said” and “doing the things that need to be done” before time runs out.
And, they only occur in places where an organization’s leadership recognizes that it’s the skill, knowledge and compassion of its staff that leads to the creation of something special.
It is our hope you will turn to Rainbow in your family’s time of need. We’re here for you!