Hospitals unite to construct hospice

Two area hospitals, CarolinaEast Health Systems and Carteret General Hospital, donated $750,000 to help fund construction of the SECU Crystal Coast Hospice House.

The State Employees’ Credit Union Foundation (SECU) gave a grant of $1 million for the facility.

The 17,200-square-foot building on an 11-acre site will be at the corner of Chatham Street and McQueen Avenue in Newport. Construction begins in the spring.

The focus and goal of hospice care is for terminally ill patients to remain at home. The role of a hospice house is to provide a place for patients with symptoms so acute or with other circumstances that prevent care at home from continuing, said Robin Nelson, executive director of the Crystal Coast Hospice House.

She said the hospice home will work with local hospice agencies along with other providers such as the hospital to offer families a residential environment that provides 24-hour medical care for patients who have chosen hospice but can no longer receive their care at home.

The hospice house will provide 10 patient suites surrounded by residential amenities such as sun porches, a family kitchen and dining room, a screened porch, gardens, a family room and a study with fireplaces and children’s rooms.

She said patients will be fed and under the care of a physician. The kitchen is for family members who visit and want to prepare a meal. There will be nurses on site; family members will be able to eat with patients.

Nelson said hospice is not just for cancer patients. She said people with Alzheimer’s, heart failure and other life threatening diseases are often given hospice care.

She said the expense of patients for the hospice house is absorbed by insurance or Medicare. She said a goal is to establish a fund for patients.

With the SECU gifts along with the Carteret General and CarolinaEast Medical Center gifts, the hospice house has received $3.9 million. The goal is $5 million.