MAJOR MILESTONE ACHIEVED TOWARD DREAM OF A HOSPICE HOUSE FOR WNC

STATE APPROVES CERTIFICATE OF NEED

After an appeal to NC Dept. of Health & Human Services by the Hospice House Foundation and Four Seasons, the Agency has found that the Proposed Project for a Hospice House conforms with all relevant statutory review criteria and has approved the Certificate of Need application to build the hospice facility in a way that ensures those in Western North Carolina who need any kind of hospice care (home based and facility based) will get it. This approval will benefit the entire region because the state’s position was that this would result in more than just a facility; it also challenges our area providers to increase hospice services overall to the community. The Hospice House Foundation has believed since its inception that our region urgently needed both more hospice care as well as a hospice house. The Hospice House Foundation of WNC board members are very excited, that after five years of hard work, tenacity, an unwavering belief in the need for a hospice house for our hospice patients and their families, along with overwhelming community support, our dream is another step closer to being realized. We believe that hospice and hospice house is not a place, but a philosophy of care. It’s rooted in the belief that everyone deserves peace, comfort and dignity at the end of life. Based on the time line in our approval, our goal is to commence breaking ground in 2014.