Postal Service Unveils New Hospice Care Stamp
U.S. Postal Service, government and hospice officials gathered Tuesday at the Woodland Hills Post Office to celebrate the nationwide unveiling of a hospice care stamp.
The postal service will issue 100 million of the first-class, 33-cent stamps, said spokeswoman Terri Bouffiou.
The self-adhesive stamp depicts a butterfly flying above a field, a tree and a white house.
“It isn’t a stamp for collectors,” Bouffiou said. “It’s to raise awareness of the availability of hospices and to tell people the good work hospice volunteers do.”
Hospice groups welcomed the new stamp, which has been three years in the making. Nationwide, there are more than 3,000 hospices serving half a million terminally ill people a year, said Susie Fishenfeld, general manager of the VITAS Healthcare Corp. of the San Fernando Valley. Through home care and long-term nursing care facilities, VITAS serves more than 34,000 patients annually in the Valley, she said.
“Hospice care really is unknown to many people. It’s very timely,” Fishenfeld said. “Quality and the end of life should be a choice.”
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