How we care for those facing the end of life and their loved ones is a true measure of our humanity. When that time comes, for us or for a loved one, it is comforting to know we will be able to access the quality compassionate care provided at Baptist Trinity Hospice House.
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Our House Is Your House is the capital campaign that will fund Baptist Trinity Hospice House. This historic effort is Baptist Memorial Health Care Foundation’s first-ever capital campaign. The minimum projected cost to build the Hospice House is $12 million. The Foundation is contributing $3 million to the project and conducting a capital campaign that asks for unprecedented levels of support from foundations, corporations, and individuals throughout the Mid-South community, as a project of this magnitude requires significant community investment. Philanthropic support is critical for its success, and several partners have already stepped forward recognizing the need and many benefits to the community. Generous gifts to the Our House Is Your House campaign will help create a lasting legacy of compassionate end-of-life care in the Mid-South.
Baptist Trinity Hospice provides excellent care to terminally ill patients in their homes and in an inpatient unit located at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis. However, there is a significant gap in service in the Memphis area that Baptist must fill. That reality is the pressing need to establish a residential hospice house. This mandate is evident, as currently:
- Patients who cannot receive care in their own homes must spend their final days in an alternative setting such as a nursing home or hospital.
- The closest hospice house is in Tupelo, Miss., more than 100 miles from Memphis.
- The state of Tennessee has approved the Certificate of Need demonstrating that there is a substantial need for a hospice house in this region.
- There are more than 250 hospice houses in the country and Memphis is far behind other U.S. cities of comparable size in its lack of a home of this nature.
- People who need the Camp Good Grief experience must wait until the annually scheduled weekend. Even then, there is a growing waiting list.
- The Baptist Trinity Center for Good Grief must adapt its group programs because of current space limitations.
- Over the years, Baptist Trinity Hospice staff members have worked with many families who would have benefited from a residential hospice setting.
- Often, patients with children at home do not wish to be cared for in the same environment that their children are living in but still desire a more home-like environment than that presented by a hospital or nursing home.
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| Listen to some Mid-South families' stories about the benefits of hospice care and how a residential hospice house could serve Memphis and the Mid-South. |
Baptist Trinity Hospice House will be designed to have a “home-like” environment with all the technology and equipment to provide aggressive palliative treatment. It will be equipped to provide acute inpatient care for management of uncontrolled pain and symptoms (nausea, anxiety, etc.), if necessary. The Hospice House will serve as a haven to terminally ill individuals. All patients will be given the sense of dignity and control they deserve in the final days of their lives.
Baptist Trinity Hospice House will sit on approximately five acres located on the 90-acre Baptist Memorial Hospital-Collierville campus. The Kemmons Wilson Family Center for Good Grief will be built adjacent to the Hospice House. In researching best practices and traditional models of hospice houses across the nation, Baptist chose the wooded area in Collierville as the ideal setting to care for patients and their loved ones.
Accessibility will be of great importance with the wide service area that Baptist Trinity Hospice House will serve. Patients and loved ones will have access to a van to transport them back and forth to visit loved ones and access the programs offered.
- A total of 24 bedrooms on two different wings
- Rooms of various sizes to accommodate families and patient needs
- Special pediatric patient “kits” to transform a room into a friendly, comfortable place for children and their parents
- Comfortable places for families to congregate or be alone when necessary
- A large family room on each wing and one central living room in the entry
- A fully operational kitchen and dining areas with an Internet café
- A centrally located and inclusive chapel that will remain open at all times
- An administrative wing with adequate meeting and office space
Staffing of the Hospice House will be a multidisciplinary group of doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, bereavement specialists and volunteers who will provide care to patients and their loved ones.
Adjacent to the residential area of the Hospice House will be the Kemmons Wilson Family Center for Good Grief. The center will continue to offer grief programs free of charge to patients and their loved ones. These programs can be greatly expanded and enhanced with the space on the Baptist Trinity Hospice House campus:
- Individual and group grief support
- Community education
- Crisis intervention
- Camp Good Grief
- Care rooms specifically designed for particular age groups and therapies
Camp Good Grief can also grow with the establishment of the campus. With the expansive setting, camp activities can be organized on a regular basis to ensure that no child, teen, or adult must be put on a waiting list to receive the expert care they need at this critical time.