Supporting Resources for Hospice Care and Medical Care

Rhona Smiles is a special non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) charity fund set up to help seriously ill patients who are in dire need of medicine and care at home during their final battles with cancer and other debilitating diseases.

This fund is named to honor Rhona Weisman Zimmerman, one of the strongest and most beautiful spirits one could ever hope to know. Rhona fought ovarian cancer for more than 5 years, and she did it with a big smile and towering courage, making it all look easy when it was anything but. She armed herself with a deep understanding of cancer and its treatment, gleaned from every source available, and became an intelligent and forceful advocate for her own care.

Rhona met many women in similar straits and was quick to befriend them and share her knowledge with them; she became an inspiration to many of her “cancer friends”, encouraging them to educate themselves about their condition, exhorting them to speak up for themselves, and showing them by example how to live a life that was filled with optimism, hope and fun.

Our family was blessed to be able to have Rhona home with us and to be able to remain by her side until the end. We had insurance, we had hospice care, we had the medicine she needed.

Not everyone is so fortunate.

Our fervent desire is to help families who have little or no financial resources to care for their loved ones at home. We hope to make these exceedingly difficult times as pain-free, dignified and meaningful as we would all hope for. We fund resources that make available family and personal support and networking, pain and prescriptive medicines, home medical equipment, home care for the patient, and home aid for the family.