A History of Caring
The Washington Home was founded in D.C. in 1888 by Mrs. Charles Hill and others who saw the need for humane and dignified care at a time when disease was a problem the year round, but many people who had neither family nor money had a place to go. The Washington Home for the Incurables (now The Washington Home) is Washington’s oldest long-term and palliative care institution. The first two patients were admitted in March 1889 and admissions totaled nine the first year.

The 1889-90 Annual Report listed several donations that had been received that year: three hams, 20 pounds of sugar, 25 pounds of hominy, six bottles of whiskey, a chicken, two rocking chairs, two laundry tubs, a washboard, and four cakes of soap.

The Board of Directors set a precedent by admitting the first cancer patients in 1896, at a time when cancer was believed to be a contagious disease.

In 1924, The Home moved to its present location on Upton Street, NW. The brick facility with its screened porches would stand at this site for the next 64 years.

By 1929 the annual operating budget was approximately $20,000.

The list of dignitaries who have visited The Home includes -- Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Mrs. William Howard Taft, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Nixon, Mrs. George Bush and Princess Diana.

Hospice of Washington, one of the first hospices in the country, admitted its first patient July 31, 1978.

In response to the community's need for specialized care for individuals with Alzheimer's disease and related conditions, the Special Care Unit opened in 1985.

Summer of 1996 saw the opening of the 33-bed Subacute unit for patients recently discharged from the hospital but with too many health care concerns to return home so soon.

On December 1, 2001 The Washington Home purchased the Hospice assets of the MedStar VNA and entered into an affiliation agreement, becoming MedStar systems’ preferred hospice and palliative care provider. The MedStar hospice acquisition and affiliation with the MedStar system formed Community Hospices, Community Hospice of Maryland and Community Hospice of Virginia.

On July 1, 2002 The Washington Home purchased the Hospice assets of the Johns Hopkins Homecare group and entered in to an affiliation agreement with the Johns Hopkins System and the Johns Hopkins Homecare Group to be the preferred provider of hospice and community based palliative care services for the Johns Hopkins system.

On July 1, 2002 The Washington Home Center for Palliative Care Studies was created with Dr. Joanne Lynn, MD serving as the Executive Director. The Center’s triad foci are to provide research, quality improvement, and education locally, regionally, nationally and internationally to improve care for the chronic, disabled and the terminally ill.

In 2007 we will celebrate The Washington Home’s 119th year of stellar charitable healthcare and end of life services throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

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