Local & State Headlines

Hospice plans to break new ground

• Albany Community Hospice offers a variety of support services for the terminally ill and their families.

Susan McCord

ALBANY — Since 1983, Albany Community Hospice has cared for people who are not expected to live more than six months in homes, nursing homes and hospitals.

In December, the Phoebe Putney-backed organization will break ground on Willson Hospice House, an 18-bed facility at a location off Westover Boulevard near Gillionville Road, Director Patty Woodall said at a recent meeting of the Albany Rotary Club.

Albany Community Hospice served more than 600 patients last year in 11 counties, but the hospice house will offer something more for the dying and their families, Woodall said.

The facility will provide a place for patients to stay short-term to accomodate management of symptoms such as pain before they return home, she said.

It can also offer respite care for families physically and emotionally drained from caring for a sick loved one, Woodall said.

The hospice can offer assistance in the not-uncommon situation of a frail elderly person caring for another.

Or, it can offer a place for families who desire a place for the death to take place — “they just don’t want the death to occur at home,” where young children or others may continue to reside and memories will be strong, she said.

Each hospice patient is assigned a nurse to handle medical care and a social worker to identify resources and address psychosocial issues, and has a chaplain available to address spiritual needs, Woodall said.

Willson Hospice House will consist of three six-bed “pods” which contain a family and child-friendly area with a kitchen, she said.

The Phoebe Foundation has raised approximately $5.7 million of a $7 million fundraising campaign for the facility.

“The support we’ve had speaks so well of our community,” Woodall said.

For 22 years, the Nancy Lopez Golf Classic has benefited Albany Community Hospice every fall.

Willson Hospice House fundraising started with a $1 million donation from local businesswoman Jane Willson and her family.

Albany Community Hospice offers a variety of support services and groups for families, and added this year a men’s group and a group for young widows, Woodall said. The groups are open to the public.