Nonprofit organization Alive Hospice has been approved by the Tennessee Health Services and Development to build a facility in Murfreesboro.
The 21,300-square-foot facility is expected to open in June, 2016. It will be located near Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital in the Parkway Office Park, off of Gateway Boulevard. It will include 10 patient rooms, a large family gathering room, a kitchen and dining room, a sanctuary and a courtyard. Patients will receive care from a team that includes a hospice physician, nurses, hospice aides (certified nurse technicians), social workers, chaplains and volunteers.
The new Residence at Alive Hospice - Murfreesboro will expand Alive Hospice's services in the area by adding a layer of care and convenience for terminally patients and their loved ones. Notably, it will be Rutherford County's first facility with dedicated beds for inpatient adult and pediatric hospice care, respite hospice care and residential hospice care.
Alive Hospice President and CEO Anna-Gene O'Neal said, "Patients facing terminal illnesses will have the comfort of knowing they can receive the care they need in an Alive Hospice facility that's close to home. That's no small comfort, and it's what our patients and families deserve. We're only too pleased to provide one more measure of comfort with a beautiful, tranquil new facility."
Alive Hospice will continue providing home hospice care for terminally ill patients and grief support services in Rutherford County as it has for many years.
Upon opening in 2016, the new facility will be available for patients needing a more intensive level of hospice care than is typically provided in home settings. It also will provide a peaceful care setting for terminally ill patients requiring short-term respite care as well as hospice patients who are unable to remain in their homes.
Having a hospice facility in Murfreesboro will allow terminally ill patients to stay close to home instead of utilizing Alive Hospice's existing facilities in Nashville.
Alive Hospice's plans come in direct response to healthcare providers and area residents who have requested the nonprofit hospice provider expand its presence south of Nashville to meet the growing need for services. Demonstrating significant enthusiasm for the new facility, Alive Hospice submitted more than 165 letters of support from stakeholders as part of its application to the state.
Additionally, Alive Hospice's Murfreesboro-based hospice home care team and Murfreesboro grief counselor will relocate their offices to the new facility. Alive Hospice currently leases office space in the Stone Gate Corporate Plaza on Medical Center Parkway.
Alive Hospice will kick off a capital campaign and plans to break ground on the facility in 2015.
"The Residence at Alive Hospice - Murfreesboro will belong to the community, and as we work to fulfill our promise, we'll need community support," O'Neal said. "We look forward to kicking off our capital campaign in 2015 and hope you will be part of building this beautiful new facility with us."
As with all aspects of Alive Hospice's care and services, hospice-eligible patients will receive care at the new facility regardless of insurance coverage status or ability to pay thanks to community support.
