About Rainbow
Our History
Rainbow Hospice and Palliative Care was founded in 1981 as a non-profit, community-based organization. Founder Betty Brosius was inspired to create a hospice organization by the struggle she and her husband faced during his experience with terminal illness.
• Betty Brosius and three friends establish Rainbow Hospice as a community-based hospice serving patients in the northwest suburbs.
• Betty was inspired by her husband’s struggle with terminal illness to provide comfort and compassion to people at the end of their lives
• Rainbow becomes state licensed as a full hospice home care agency and becomes Medicare/Medicaid certified.
• Rainbow hosts its first Angels Ball Gala.
Rainbow’s first President/Executive Director Carol Minarik is hired.
• Pat Ahern is hired as President/CEO.
Rainbow becomes the sole facilitator of the Good Mourning Program after two years of partnership with Advocate Lutheran General.
A dedicated department is formed to focus on bereavement counseling. Rainbow enters clinical education agreements with local teaching institutions to train the next generation of healthcare practitioners.
The chaplain Residency Program begins in collaboration with Advocate Lutheran General Hospital.
• Rainbow launches the LIFE (Leading Innovators for End-of-Life Education) Institute for Learning.
• Rainbow’s community-based palliative care program begins.
• Rainbow becomes accredited by the Community Health Accreditation Program (CHAP).
Rainbow continues to build a full complement of services, adding a palliative care pharmacist and a music therapist to the staff.
Rainbow hires its first full-time home visit physician.
Rainbow begins offering pet and massage therapies to patients.
- The Ark Inpatient Unit opens in Park Ridge.
- The Board approves the addition of two Community Board seats, increasing the number of Board members to six.
Rainbow’s name is officially changed to “Rainbow Hospice and Palliative Care.”
The President’s Council is established for donors who give $2,500 or more annually.
Rainbow is listed as one of Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work in Healthcare.
With the generous support of a family foundation, Rainbow’s main offices move from Park Ridge to Mount Prospect.
• Rainbow embarks on the Dementia with Dignity Project, a $600,000 grant to help build expert training and resources for dementia care.
• Rainbow is again ranked as one of Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work in Healthcare.
Rainbow becomes part of the Presence Health system.
• Michael McHale joins Rainbow as President and CEO.
• State of the art 14-seat call center opens in the Mount Prospect office.
• Presence Palliative Care is launched.
• Rainbow launches its first Innovation Team, tasked with testing new care delivery models, including TeleHospice.
• The first physician fellow graduates from the LIFE Institute’s Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM) Fellowship Program.
• Presence Hospice becomes Rainbow Hospice and Palliative Care.
• Rainbow’s Ark Inpatient Unit moves to Presence Resurrection Medical Center.
• Rainbow launches a Dedicated Education Partnership with Resurrection University.
• Rainbow becomes a Level Four We Honor Veterans Partner, the highest Palliative Care.
• Susan Enright becomes the Interim President of Rainbow Hospice and
• The first two bereavement fellows graduate from the LIFE Institute’s Grief & Loss Services Bereavement Fellowship Program.
• Presence Health and Ascension, the nation’s leading non-profit and Catholic health system, reach an agreement for Presence Health to join Ascension and become part of AMITA Health, a joint operating company of Ascension’s Alexian Brothers Health System and Adventist Midwest Health, which is part of the Adventist Health System.
• Rainbow becomes part of the AMITA Health system.
Rainbow Hospice has returned to its roots as a community-based hospice.