A Hospice House for the Crystal Coast
The Crystal Coast community is deprived of a key healthcare component that has become a standard of care in North Carolina and across the nation. That is why the Crystal Coast Hospice House is seeking your investment to build the area's first hospice home for our friends, families and loved ones who share this beautiful community. Designed to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of terminally ill patients and their loved ones, the 12,690 square foot, ten-suite hospice home will provide 24-hour care for patients and comprehensive support for loved ones in a comfortable home-like setting.
Hospice Homes: A Standard of Care
Inpatient hospice facilities have become an integral part of healthcare available to terminally ill patients throughout North Carolina. In NC alone, there are 52 operating hospice homes providing 496 beds, with an additional 10 homes and 129 beds under construction.
A Critical Need on the Crystal Coast
While the Crystal Coast Hospice House will serve patients of all ages, most will be senior citizens. Over 80% of hospice patients are 65 years or older. As the baby boomer generation grows older and seniors retire to our area, residents who are 65 and older become the fastest growing segment of our population. The number of local residents in this age group is projected to swell by 20% in the next five years and will make up 80% of the projected population growth.
By 2016, one in four residents of our region will be over 65
With the closest hospice home over 100 miles away, patients referred to in-patient care do not have convenient access to a dedicated place to continue hospice care through their final days. Families and friends must travel long distances, often hours, just to share precious time with their loved ones in a hospice centered environment.
Our area experiences a notably higher incident rate of cancer than the rest of North Carolina, 18% higher. About 40% of hospice utilization in North Carolina is by cancer patients, making the need for this facility in our community even greater.
Four in ten hospice patients will be referred to inpatient care
The Crystal Coast Hospice House will serve residents in Carteret County as well as the four surrounding counties of Onslow, Jones, Craven, and Pamlico. Combined, there are almost a half a million residents, not including active military personnel stationed at Camp LeJeune, Cherry Point and New River, in this service area without access to a dedicated hospice home.
Most hospice patients remain at home with the assistance of hospice staff. However, over a third will ultimately be referred to inpatient care. When a patient's circumstances or symptoms require their physician to make that referral, the Crystal Coast Hospice House and its operating partner 3HC will provide specially trained medical staff, social workers, spiritual advisors and volunteers to help deal with the physical and emotional challenges associated with the final stages of their illnesses.
Designed in the style of a warm and welcoming coastal mainland home, the Crystal Coast Hospice House will surround patients and their loved ones with the comforts of home when their care can no longer be managed at home.
The hospice facility will feature 10 patient suites, 6 acute care and 4 residential care, each with its own bath and sun porch. A family room with a fireplace, a home study/office with a fireplace, a children's room with music and video nook, a family kitchen and dining room, sun rooms, screened porches and terraces will add comfort to patients and their families by providing an environment as much like home as possible.
Crystal Coast Hospice House has secured a beautiful tract of land in central Carteret County on which to build the new hospice home. Centrally located just off Highway 70, a few miles from Morehead City's main retail hub, the site is easily accessible to patients and family members in our five county area, from Jacksonville and Swansboro, Havelock and New Bern, Beaufort, Harkers Island, and even the New River Ferry terminal serving Pamlico County.
Partnering with 3HC, Hospitals and Physicians
In cooperation with in-home hospice providers, area hospitals and local physicians, the Crystal Coast Hospice House and its operating partner 3HC will ensure a seamless continuum of care for hospice patients. The staff at the Crystal Coast Hospice House will meet the highest professional and medical standards of inpatient hospice care.
3HC has provided the highest quality in patient hospice care at its facility, SECU Kitty Askins Hospice House, in Goldsboro, NC, and has been recognized as the model facility in North Carolina by many. By partnering with 3HC to operate the facility, Crystal Coast Hospice House enhances the opportunity for a high standard of care for patients and families as well as operational experience and sustainability that will allow CCHH and 3HC to focus on providing urgently needed inpatient hospice care once the facility opens.