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David Rehm, president and CEO of HopeHealth.
HYANNIS – A local woman who regularly donated to medical care organization HopeHealth before she passed away in April also included the organization in her trust.
The Elizabeth M. Arnold Stevens Trust granted HopeHealth $1 million to be used for Alzheimer’s and Hospice caregiver support services.
HopeHealth CEO David Rehm said it’s the largest single gift the not-for-profit organization has ever received.
“It’s going to allow us to create an annual fund to support caregivers,” Rehm said, referencing the various training, counseling, support groups and respite care the organization provides.
Rehm said Stevens, of Harwich, first donated to HopeHealth in 1998 and regularly did so for the rest of her life.
She was a caregiver herself, according to Rehm, to her first husband who died in 1995 and to her second husband, who passed away in 2007.
He said she wanted her trust to help those who take care of those suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Caregivers are, according to Rehm, a fundamental part of the health of those suffering from these conditions. But caregiver services, he said, are primarily supported through philanthropy.
“Family caregivers are really the backbone for our care system. If we didn’t have them, it would be a burden that society probably couldn’t even assume,” he said.
On Cape Cod alone, there are around 10,000 people with dementia, he said.
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