FYI: Daily Nonpareil Online > News > Hospice facility opening Saturday

Five years after beginning its mission to provide end-of-life care to terminally ill patients in southwest Iowa and eastern Nebraska, the Council Bluffs-based nonprofit “Hospice With Heart” will begin a new chapter Saturday with a public event to celebrate its opening of the first dedicated hospice care facility in southwest Iowa.

“Hospice With Heart” will hold an open house and home shower event Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m. for its newly completed “Hospice With Heart” hospice home located at 357 Indian Hill Drive on the campus of the Glenwood Resource Center.

The eight-bed facility was renovated from a building previously used by the resource center and created specifically to provide a home-like environment for terminally ill patients who cannot be cared for in their homes

The organization’s 18 full-time, part-time and volunteer staff members provide in-home medical and personal support to about 17 terminally ill patients and their families in Nebraska and Iowa.

“Hospice With Heart” co-founder Dan Stane said the addition of a dedicated hospice house allow the organization to reach a few more patients, but more importantly to provide a place for those patients for whom in-home care is not a viable option.

“Some of these people, their family or friends just don’t have the time and ability to take care of them the way they want to,” Stane said. “To most of the people we see, it is important to them to remain at home; but for the ones who are interested in the home, it’s important that we have that option available.”

“Hospice With Heart” began in 2004 when its founders – then both recent graduates of nursing school – realized the need for a hospice service in their home area. Iowa law requires a hospice service to provide in-home care before establishing a facility and by 2007, “Hospice With Heart” had arranged a leasing agreement with the Glenwood Resource Center and began raising the $500,000 necessary to renovate the existing building into a dedicated hospice house.

Funds for renovation and operation of the home came from a number of grant organizations and smaller private donations that totaled more than $350,000. With the money “Hospice With Heart” brought the building back up to code and hired 13 registered nurses and certified nurse’s aides to provide 24-hour care for patients.

“Hospice With Heart” hospice home will accept patients on a first-come, first-served basis starting in July. The future operation of the facility will be partially supported by Medicare and continued private donations. Patients will also be charged a small fee for room and board.

Stane said the focus is on providing physical and personal support in an environment that is as home-like as possible.

“Basically hospice is about providing days for a patient, allowing them to live them out the most that they can,” Stane said. “We’re all about providing comfort for patients and their families, guiding them through the process and working with not just the patient, but the family as a whole.”

While the home is ready to open, organizers are hoping more contributors will come forward with a number of kitchen and other household items still needed by the new facility as well as continued financial support to reduce the cost to families.

More information on “Hospice With Heart” and how to support the new hospice home is available online at www.hospicewithheart.org.