TRU

Caring For Our Community Since 1976.

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PIZZAZ! Celebrates 40-Year Mission

October 14, 2016 by TRU Community Care

Blast-From-the-Past Event Raises $80,000 for TRU

Guests of TRU Community Care’s annual fundraising gala arrived at the Denver Marriot Westminster decked out in disco clothes, Vietnam vet attire, and groovy 70s prints. This year’s theme—Peace, Love & PIZZAZ!—celebrated TRU’s 40th anniversary of serving the community. In honor of those 40 years, the blast from the past included a 1970s-themed dance party. Attendees enjoyed the music of live band Soul School as they bid on items in the silent and live auctions, drank signature psychedelic cocktails, and boogied the night away.

TRU Community Care Peace Love & PIZZAZ!

Eric and Jessica Beck, with Jessica’s father Bob Von Eschen, boogied the night away.

Saying Yes When It TRUly Matters

Throughout the evening, guests were reminded of TRU’s mission: to ensure that everyone in our community can live with advanced illness as comfortably, confidently, and fully as possible. We say yes to anyone needing our help, regardless of their ability to pay.

Can you imagine being in one of the most vulnerable times of your life and not having any support? Would you feel safe? Imagine what it feels like to be told no during a time when yes matters. One day you, too, will face death, and you won’t want to be alone. And at TRU, we strive to say yes to everyone, no matter their circumstances.

Recently, our TRU Hospice Care Center staff and volunteers cared for a man named Steve.

Steve came to us having suffered a massive stroke. His care needs were great, and he was not able to return home from the hospital; he needed help beyond what anyone in his life could offer, and like so many times in the past 40 years, because we have a care center for the most acute and most complex cases, we were able to say, “Yes, we can help.”

Adding Life to Days

The goal of our healthcare system is to cure the incurable; to fix the unfixable; to use our vast systems of technology and know-how to make people whole again, and when that isn’t possible, it’s hard for us to accept. Well, Steve was in a place of acceptance; he knew that what he needed was a place for compassion and a place for peace.

You Can Help Us Close the Gap

At TRU, we take on the most difficult end-of-life cases; we say yes because we know that people like Steve have no other place to turn. We are able to say yes because community members like you understand that with your help, we can take care of Steve in the most respectful, most compassionate way possible. One guest who attended PIZZAZ! remarked,

In the midst of the festivities, we were rightly called back consistently to the mission of TRU Community Care. PIZZAZ! is a good instrument over the years to span the reality of end of life care with vitality and hopefulness. The 40th anniversary added meaning to this rendition.

We are grateful to each and every one of you who attended PIZZAZ! to offer hope and comfort to those in our community requiring such important and dignified end-of-life care. Your decision to say yes helps us further our mission.

L to R: Maria Thomas, Communications Coordinator; Pat Mehnert, Interim President & CEO; Diana Slough, Event Chair; Annette Mainland, VP of Philanthropy; Jessica Sharley, Philanthropic Services Specialist

L to R: Maria Thomas, Communications Coordinator; Pat Mehnert, Interim President & CEO; Diana Slough, Event Chair; Annette Mainland, VP of Philanthropy; Jessica Sharley, Philanthropic Services Specialist

View more photos on the TRU Community Care Facebook page.

Filed Under: Events, 40th Anniversary, Fundraiser Tagged With: fundraiser, gala, PIZZAZ!

Guests Will ‘Boogie On Down’ at TRU Community Care’s 70s-Themed Peace, Love & PIZZAZ!

September 1, 2016 by TRU Community Care

invite-cropFor immediate release: September 1, 2016
Contact:  Maria Thomas, Communications Coordinator, mariathomas@trucare.org

LAFAYETTE, COLORADO – More than 100 guests will get their groove on September 17 at TRU Community Care’s Peace, Love & PIZZAZ! 2016, the nonprofit’s largest fundraiser of the year. This annual gala helps raise funds for the compassionate end-of-life care and grief services that TRU provides to our local community.

Held at the Denver Marriott Westminster, guests will enjoy a silent auction, dinner, games of chance as well as a live auction. Local band Soul School will perform a variety of 70s hits sure to get people on the dance floor.

Silent auction items include several jewelry items courtesy of Snyder Jewelers, Inc., a gourmet Celestial Seasonings gift basket, gift certificates to many local area restaurants, a golf package, and an overnight stay at a local hotel including breakfast and champagne for two.

TRU Community Care is celebrating its 40th year of service to the Boulder community this year. What better way to celebrate than with a tribute to the decade that started it all? Don’t miss out on the fun!

Click here to purchase tickets now to Peace, Love & PIZZAZ!

TRU Community Care serves Boulder, Louisville, Lafayette, Broomfield, Erie, and beyond. TRU Hospice of Northern Colorado offers services in Greeley and extends to Weld and Larimer counties.

Additional services include grief support, which is available to anyone in the community. It is a privilege for us to help those who are grieving regain their balance and resume healthy living. Grief groups include adult, teen, and child as well as equine therapy.

At TRU Community Care, we add life to days, because that’s what TRUly matters. The sooner you call, the sooner we can help – 303.442.0961 or visit trucare.org


Maria Thomas, Communications CoordinatorAbout the Author

Maria Thomas is the Communications Coordinator for TRU Community Care and TRU Hospice of Northern Colorado. She is a lover of the written word and also is a Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT). With over 15 years’ experience in the health care field, Maria has worked as a medical editor and as managing editor at National Jewish Health in Denver.

Filed Under: Press Releases, 40th Anniversary, PIZZAZ! Tagged With: events, PIZZAZ!, fundraiser

TRU Hospice Thrift Shop Promotes Zero Waste With Eco-Cycle

August 23, 2016 by TRU Community Care

Eco-Cycle & TRU Community Care partner on T-shirtsLast week, Mel Gilles of Eco-Cycle pulled into the parking lot of TRU Hospice Thrift Shop eager to pick up not the first, but the second large donation of boxes containing used T-shirts. Why so many shirts, you ask? Eco-Cycle is celebrating its 40th birthday this year, and as part of the celebration they are printing shirts with their logo and other messaging. Rather than purchase brand new shirts, Eco-Cycle reached out to TRU Hospice Thrift Shop Manager Lynn McCullough to see if there was an opportunity to partner and rescue used items before they hit the landfill. As luck would have it, there was!

Both Eco-Cycle and TRU Community Care are celebrating their 40th anniversaries this year. You can get in on the fun by purchasing tickets to TRU’s annual gala, Peace, Love & PIZZAZ! This year is a 70s-themed disco party!

The thrift shop has donated a total of 400 shirts to Eco-Cycle over the summer. First, at Eco-Cycle’s birthday bash, and now for their upcoming event in September. We’re thrilled to be partnering with such a great organization that is committed to reducing waste in our environment. Bonus? They’re located just right down the street from our thrift shop on Arapahoe Road. We’ve seen Mel sneak in to shop several times during the week. 😉

TRU Hospice Thrift Shop

Mel from Eco-Cycle (left) with Lynn, TRU Hospice Thrift Store Manager (right) with the T-shirt donations.

TRU Hospice Thrift Shop truck

The TRU Hospice Thrift Shop truck. Got donations? We’ll pick them up!


About the Author

Maria Thomas, Communications CoordinatorMaria Thomas is the Communications Coordinator for TRU Community Care and TRU Hospice of Northern Colorado. She is a lover of the written word and also is a Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT). With over 15 years’ experience in the health care field, Maria has worked as a medical editor and as managing editor at National Jewish Health in Denver.

Filed Under: Community, Thrift Store, PIZZAZ!, News, 40th Anniversary, Giving

Celebrating Four Decades of Service

July 1, 2016 by TRU Community Care

PACE buildingA huge thank you to all that attended our 40th Anniversary Celebration! The celebration was this past Sunday, June 26 and we enjoyed seeing so many of TRU’s supporters attend. The celebration also included the grand opening for our new PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly) and Grief Services building. PACE is a comprehensive program that helps nursing-home eligible seniors live as independently as possible.

Guests at the event were also able to get a first look at our 40th Anniversary video! We are so grateful for everyone who made the video possible including,  Boulder County Hospice founder Beau Rezendes, staff, volunteers, and Blue Mesa Media – thank you all for making this extraordinary video happen!

Filed Under: Events, News, 40th Anniversary, Community

Join us for our 40th bash!

May 10, 2016 by TRU Community Care

Pace photo

Mark your calendars! In celebration of our 40th, TRU Community Care will be hosting an anniversary party on Sunday, June 26 from 2 to 5 p.m. and all of TRU’s supporters are invited to attend. The celebration will also include the grand opening for our new PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly) and Grief Services building. PACE is a comprehensive program that helps nursing-home eligible seniors live as independently as possible.

The event will be held at 2593 Park Lane in Lafayette, around the corner from our existing administrative offices on Trailridge Drive. We hope to see you there!

Filed Under: 40th Anniversary, News, Events, Community Tagged With: grand opening, anniversary, PACE, hospice, Boulder, Grief

TRU Community Care Celebrates Four Decades of Service

February 16, 2016 by TRU Community Care

senior couple OL

LAFAYETTE, COLORADO – In 2016, TRU Community Care, founded in 1976 as the first Colorado hospice, is celebrating a major milestone.
This year marks the hospice service’s 40th anniversary, meaning that the nonprofit has been caring for those who are dying and their families for four decades. In celebration, TRU is planning two exciting 40th anniversary events throughout the year and sharing part of its history with the hospice community. June 26 will bring a 40th celebration party and groundbreaking for a new elder care and grief services facility, and TRU’s annual fundraiser, PIZZAZ!, will cap off the milestone with style on Sept. 17.

The Pioneers of the Early Years
TRU Community Care began as Boulder County Hospice in 1976, when one of the organization’s founders was asked, “Have you ever thought about starting a hospice?”
The question was posed to Beau Bohart Rezendes, who was finishing her Ph.D. dissertation on death and dying when she asked Dr. Darvin Smith what he thought could be done to help people who were dying or aged.  His thought-provoking response was the beacon that pointed the way for Bohart Rezendes. Before long, she was talking to anyone who would listen about starting a hospice in Boulder County.
Among those she approached were Kathryn Riddle-Oakes (then called Kitty Riddle), a well-known community organizer with vast experience in volunteer activities; Dr. Alan Snyder, an internist/oncologist at the Boulder Medical Center; and Karin Sobeck, who had just completed her master’s degree in mental health nursing and was holding workshops on death and dying across the country. Along with Marcia Lattanzi-Licht, a respected psychiatric nurse who was involved in grief-related work, this team of professionals added their talents and energy to the quest to bring hospice care to Boulder County.
“I think all of us came with the vision that there were better ways to care for people who were dying and grieving and that there were clear gaps in services,” said Lattanzi-Licht.

Taking the Next Steps with Hospice
Filling those gaps would prove to be a challenging mission. In the beginning, the group met in living rooms. They stored donations in a cigar box. They paid their own way to hospice care conferences on pain management. Despite such humble beginnings, they never wavered in their steadfast commitment to the cause, and by early 1977, Boulder County Hospice incorporated as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. Not surprisingly, its all-volunteer management team was comprised of the dedicated professionals who have come to be known as the nonprofit’s founders as well.
The organization’s first patient received hospice care in June of 1977. And thanks to one provocative question and five remarkable visionaries, the organization has grown to become TRU Community Care, offering hospice, palliative care, grief services, and soon TRU PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly.) PACE represents an opportunity to create a broader continuum of care for frail elders in Boulder and southwest Weld Counties in northern Colorado. The opening of the PACE site, which also will house TRU Hospice Grief Support, will be a chance to celebrate with the local community the years of service TRU has provided.
As TRU Community Care’s visionary founders look back on the organization’s past and to its future, they all agree – a dream has been fulfilled.

Filed Under: 40th Anniversary, News, PIZZAZ!, Events, Community

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About TRU

TRU Community Care (TRU) affirms life at every step of your journey with illness and loss. Our vision is to lead a healthcare transformation by engaging with our communities and offering innovative, meaningful care for those living with illness and loss.

Founded as Boulder Hospice in 1976, TRU is a Colorado-licensed, Medicare and Medicaid-certified, nonprofit health care organization serving Boulder, Broomfield, Adams, Jefferson, Arapahoe, Denver, and Weld Counties and beyond. With a focus on providing a continuum of care for members of our community living with advanced illness and loss, TRU’s programs include TRU Hospice, TRU PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly), TRU Palliative Care, Landmark Memory Care, and TRU Grief Services.

TRU Hospice is proudly accredited by The Joint Commission and is a five-star-level hospice in NHPCO's We Honor Veterans program created in collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). TRU is a member of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI), the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE), and the National PACE Association (NPA).

Our Services

TRU Grief Services
& Administrative Offices
2594 Trailridge Drive East
Lafayette, CO 80026

TRU Hospice Care Center
1950 Mountain View Avenue
4th Floor South
Longmont, CO 80501

TRU Thrift Shop
5565 Arapahoe Avenue
Boulder, CO 80303

TRU PACE Program
2593 Park Lane
Lafayette, CO 80026

TRU Memory Care
1744 S Public Road
Lafayette, CO 80026

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