The word 'hospice' is derived from the Latin word 'hospitium,' meaning guesthouse. Originally, the term was used to describe a place of shelter for sick and weary travelers returning from religious pilgrimages during the middle ages. The 1960s saw the new hospice movement emerge under the leadership of Dr. Cicely Saunders, a British physician who founded St. Christopher's Hospice outside of London, England. St. Christopher’s Hospice organized a revolutionary approach to professional care-giving by implementing the first program to utilize modern pain management techniques to compassionately care for the dying. The first hospice program in the U.S. was established in New Haven, Connecticut in 1974. Today more than 3,200 hospice organizations provide palliative comfort care aimed at reducing suffering and improving a patient’s quality of life.  Hospice is fundamentally about living and dying with dignity and pain free.