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December 3 , 2007

Auxiliary donates $85,000 for new hospice and surgery centers.
 
The Haywood Regional Medical Center Auxiliary donated $35,000 to a planned Hospice and End-of-Life Care Center Friday. In addition, $50,000 was allocated to the HRMC Foundation to be applied to funds for the new surgery and outpatient services center. Auxiliary members approved both donations during their Nov. 12 meeting.

The two projects are included in the HRMC Foundation’s Caring for Our Community fund-raising campaign. The goal of the Foundation is to raise $7 million for the two projects, as well as to build an endowment fund, said Robin Tindall-Taylor, Foundation director.

An estimated $1.5 to $2 million will be needed for the first phase of the Hospice and End-of-Life Care Center, which will address the immediate needs of patients and their families during end-of-life experiences through outpatient services and community outreach programs.

About $1 million has been received in donations to date, but about $500,000 more is needed before work on the center can begin next year, Williams said. The Foundation has received $1.5 million for the surgery center and hospice building, Tindall-Taylor said

“This is a wonderful start to our $4 million goal to help fund this $16.5 million hospice project, which is expected to break ground in 2008,” she said of the auxiliary donation.

A building committee — comprised of physicians, nurses, volunteers, architects and administrators — has worked diligently to plan this caring haven, where grieving families can take comfort in the tranquility of pleasant surroundings and meaningful services.

“It’s wonderful and I am heartened that our hospital auxiliary chose to support the hospice building project with a very generous donation,” said Jenny Williams, HRMC Hospice program coordinator.

“We’re very excited to be one step closer to our new building,” said Lisa Bradley, a member of the HRMC Hospice Advisory Board and a member of the building committee.

Phase I will provide space for HRMC’s Hospice and End-of-Life team of medical professionals, therapists, clergy and volunteers, where they will collaboratively manage patient care. The building will include private rooms for counseling and bereavement therapy, a children’s therapy room, a reference library for resources related to terminal illnesses and end-of-life issues, and a community education center that also will serve as a chapel for memorial and butterfly release ceremonies.

The second phase of the new center will be an inpatient facility to be connected to the first building by a courtyard. The hospice center will be located on a wooded lot near the hospital off Sunset Ridge Road on property owned by Haywood Regional Medical Center.

There are numerous naming opportunities for donors of both projects, said Tindall-Taylor. The HRMC Auxiliary has chosen to name an adult therapy room and volunteer workroom at the new hospice center, and to name the triangle section of the surgery center.

“The triangle is the main directional area of the addition,” said Eileen Lipham, HRMC vice-president of professional services. The triangle will be an area from which patients can be directed to their appropriate destinations, she explained.

To make a donation, send a check payable to: HRMC Foundation, 262 Leroy George Drive, Clyde, N.C. 28721. Contributions are tax deductible.

For more information about the Caring for Our Community campaign, call the HRMC Foundation at 454-9340.

Frank Powers, chairman of the Haywood Regional Medical Center Foundation “Caring for Our Community” campaign, accepts a check from Gwilli Gerichek, treasurer of the HRMC Auxiliary. Also represented at the presentation were, from left, Lisa Bradley, a member of HRMC Hospice Advisory Board and a member of the building committee; HRMC President and CEO David Rice; and, at right, Ed Brown, president of the HRMC Auxiliary.