About Us
A Donation-Supported Community Project
How it began
VilcaDying.com was created in 2019 by a group of ex-pats to offer information and resources concerning dying in Vilcabamba. They have been consulting with residents, particularly ex-pats, since then, regarding end-of-life issues.
In 2019 they were asked by an influential Ecuadorian, Vilcabamba leader to train Ecuadorian women to go into the mountains to help the old Ecuadorians at end-of-life. COVID hindered that process.
Vilca Hospice was officially formed in October 2021.
Vilca Hospice became officially affiliated with Giving Back, a 501(c)3 US non-profit, in October 2021, thanks to it’s Founder, Karen Peterson, moving to Vilcabamba with the same interest and focus. We have begun to apply for grants and we can now offer US tax receipts for donations.
Our first, monthly fundraiser, Celebrate Life Community Dinner Dance, in October 2021 was very well received and our VilcaHospice.com, bi-lingual website, went live in October 2021.
We partnered with Casa Asistencial Vilcabamba and officially opened the Vilca Hospice Suite on 11/11 2021.
We moved to our Hospice Casita on May 13, 2022 and closed it August 2022.
We began offering bi-lingual Training Courses in early 2022.
We opened our next Hospice Suite on October 1, 2023
We became members of Omega Home Network on October 17, 2023
We now offer Free Consultations, a residential Suite, information, training and referrals.
Founder
Caryl Dennis has been involved in Hospice for the past twenty-five years in the US. She created, Transition Planning: Complete End-of-Life Education & Resources in 2005, which was named a “best practice” by the State of Florida, Department of Elder Affairs.
She moved to Vilcabamba in 2018 and realized Hospice and Palliative Care were not acknowledged or understood here and in 2019 she created a similar project, Vilca Dying, specifically for issues in Ecuador.
While counseling and researching, she recognized the need for an in-patient facility, where particularly, the many single, senior ex-pats living in Vilcabamba with no family backup, could take their last breath, pain-free, with dignity and choice.
She founded Vilca Hospice in 2021.
