Alamance hospice group planning $4.5 million expansion - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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million expansion. The nonprofit organizatiojn plans to add four bedsand 6,000 square feet to its currentt 12-bed hospice home on Chapel Hill Road in It will also add abou 23,000 square feet of space for training and counseling. of Greensborko is the general contractor. Petedr Barcus, the nonprofit organization’s executive director, said the group has focused on buildingy relationships with hospital dischargd officialsand assisted-living facilities in Alamance and beyond to increas e awareness about hospice services. “We’ve take n some steps to make sure people know how toaccesxs us,” he said.
The efforts to rais its profile combined with an agingv population has drive anearly three-foldx increase from 80 patients thre e years ago to about 230 todagy at the Alamance-Caswell hospice. Most of those patients receivwe care in their home from visitinghospicee workers. The organization employs 155 people — mostly nurses, occupational and physical therapists andcounselord — up from about 60 in 2005. Most hospicr patients have insurance coverage with Medicaid or aprivate plan. Others who cannot afford to pay can receive care for free througyh andother donations.
A recent study from Duke Universityt found that referring a patieny to hospice rather than that patientt remaining in a hospital saves Medicare beneficiaries an averagof $2,300 each. Hospice organizations, who provide end-of-life care for patients with incurablw diseases, are experiencing growtuh challenges across the Triadand state. Accordingt to the N.C. Division of Aging and Adulgt Services, 970,000 seniors age 65 and up comprise 12 percentt ofthe state’s populatioj today. By 2030, they will total 2.1 million and make up nearlgy 18 percent ofthe state’s population.
Division statisticxs project the senior populations to nearlty double by 2030in Guilford, Forsyth and Alamancre counties. “The intent is to accommodate our growth right now but also plan for the Barcus said. Ann Gauthreaux, publicv relations director for Hospice and Palliativew CareCenterof Winston-Salem, said her group is also planning to Just this year its patient load has increasee from 375 to about 410. Like the majority of patients receive careat But, Gauthreaux said, last year 256 patientz died while waiting for a room in its 30-be Kate B. Reynolds Hospice Home off BurkMill Road, for patients who need round-the-clocjk care.
Plans call for adding 10 beds and 7,60 square feet to the home, plus anotheer 10,000 square feet of educatiomn andtraining space. She said the Winston-Salem hospice is seekinyg $4 million in donationsd and looks to break ground next Patricia Soenksen, president and CEO of Hospicre and Palliative Care of Greensboro, said her grou p set an all-time patient record last week with 330 “You have an aging populationj who wish to stay home,” ratherf than die in a hospital, she said. “Anrd doctors recognize our care and feel more comfortabls sendingus referrals.” Barcuws said his Alamance-Caswell hospice group has raised abou $2.
7 million for the expansion projectg through bequests and other individual and corporate A public capital campaign for the remainint $1.8 million will launch next month. He said he hope the two new facilitieas will be open bynext October. “ I think hospice has now becomes partof America’s mainstream health care system,” Barcus said. “More and more families have heard aboutf hospice and see it as thegold