Adding hospice beds: Profiles of two efforts
Here's a look at new hospice home projects
Hospices from coast to coast are expanding or building new hospice homes as part of a trend of providing inpatient or residential care to end-of-life patients.
Here's a look at two hospices' involvement in building or expanding residential hospice beds:
• The Villages (FL) Hospice House: Lake County in Florida is one of the state's fastest growing areas, as it is a bedroom community of Orlando and Disney World.
Also, the area increasingly hosts year-round residents, who are replacing the " snowbirds," says Ted Williams, CFRE, executive director of the Hospice Foundation of Lake and Sumter in Tavares, FL.
So when the Hospice of Lake and Sumter in Tavares, FL, was offered free land for the purpose of building hospice homes, a foundation was formed and the money was raised, he reports.
"When you have something with community involvement and community commitment, plus the land up front, that's telling us they want us to be there, and there's a need to be met," Williams says.
The hospice has had a small hospice home facility in Tavares since 1987, but with the donated land, the Hospice Foundation of Lake and Sumter was able to raise more than $3 million to build a 12-bed hospice home and its $400,000 serenity center in The Villages, Williams says.
In July, the hospice received a first runner-up award for The Villages Hospice House at the Florida Medical Business newspaper's 16th annual Golden Stethoscope awards dinner in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
The home is located within a 55 years-plus development community that has nearly 100,000 residents, a shopping center, a bowling alley, a hospital, and its own zip code, Williams says.
Although the hospice home is located within The Villages, it is open to anyone, regardless of their ability to pay its sliding-scale room and board charge, Williams notes.
The 2-year-old facility has private rooms, each with a lanai, which is a screened-in back porch, says Donna Shafar, RN, patient care supervisor of The Villages Hospice House.
Patients' beds can be rolled outside, where a fan on the porch will keep them comfortable, Shafar says.
Rooms also have personal computers on wheels so patients can play computer games or access the Internet and e-mail, and there are DVD players in each room, along with pull-out beds and refrigerators, Shafar adds.
"We have a lobby area that would look like a family room, very comfortable and open with several couches and two round tables so families can eat lunch or dinner there," Shafar says.
A more private room contains a plasma screen television, and behind it is an office for family members who have to do work, including using a computer or fax machine, while they are staying with their loved one, she adds.
The hospice home operates with 15 nurses, 10-12 nursing aides, a patient care supervisor, a regional team manager, a housekeeper, a chief executive officer, and a part-time chef, Shafar says.
Plus, there are many trained volunteers, including cooks, servers, and greeters, she adds.
The average length of stay is 14 days, and while the home's residents may receive some Medicare or other payer reimbursement, it also relies on community contributions, Shafar says.
The foundation's plans include breaking ground in November on an eight-bed hospice home, and in December on a 10-bed hospice home. All four hospice homes will be within a 30-mile radius, Williams says.
"I'm running a $5.5 million capital campaign and have raised half of it so far," he reports. "The campaign has been under way for less than a year."
Also, future plans might include fundraising for endowments that would cover unreimbursed operational expenses at the homes, and there probably will be expansions down the road, Williams adds.
Each of the newer homes could be expanded, with The Villages Hospice Home having the space to add 36 additional beds in 12-bed units, he explains.
• Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home in Winston-Salem, NC: The hospice home opened with 20 beds eight years ago, and in June it was expanded to 30 beds, says Debbie Flippin, RN, MBA, CHPN, vice president and director of the Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home, Hospice and Palliative CareCenter in Winston-Salem, NC.
The hospice also has built an education and counseling center at the hospice home site, she says.
Patients admitted to the home have either inpatient or residential needs. Inpatient beds are for patients typically seen in an acute care hospital, Flippin says.
"They generally have a short-term need for symptom management," she explains. "The residential beds are for someone who either does not have a home or does not have a caregiving system that allows the person to stay at home."
The average length of stay for the combined levels of care is nine days, Flippin says.
Rooms are larger than the typical hospital room and all are singles with bathrooms. The initial 20 bedrooms had a large window seat that could be used as a makeshift bed for caregivers, she notes.
"We have rollaway cots available and a recliner that folds flat to make a bed, and we encourage caregivers to stay," Flippin says. "We also have family rooms on each wing, and we have a sun porch on each wing."
Each room has a small desk table and computer and phone hookups.
About 75-80 employees, both full and part time, staff the hospice home, Flippin says.
The hospice decided to build a hospice home after deciding that it was difficult to provide a continuum of care for patients who moved between acute care, the home, and long-term care facilities, Flippin explains.
"Our patients were getting lost in the system, and as hard as we tried to have a continuum of care, we found it didn't always happen," Flippin says. "Even simple things like finding parking for family members was difficult."
After two years of meetings, including joint meetings with local hospitals, the hospice decided a hospice home was the best way to meet the needs of patients who had short-term acute management needs, Flippin says.
"Both hospitals started with giving us a million-dollar loan to start the capital campaign," she adds.
Initially, the capital campaign raised $2.2 million for the hospice home, and the cost of the addition was $1.7 million, Flippin says.
Although the home remained at full capacity since it opened, it took a while for the hospice to convince the state, which requires certificates of need, that additional beds were needed, Flippin says.
The hospice home charges $120 per day on a sliding income scale, and private insurance will reimburse some costs with the community fundraising covering deficits, Flippin says.
"We have several fundraisers a year and a fair number of memorials left to us," she reports.
Hospices from coast to coast are expanding or building new hospice homes as part of a trend of providing inpatient or residential care to end-of-life patients.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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