Raleigh, NC – Following the ceremonial groundbreaking in October of 2007, Hospice of Wake County has moved in the heavy equipment and broken ground on its hospice and palliative care facility off Trinity Road in Cary. This will be the first independent, free-standing hospice building in Wake County and will serve patients, their families and communities in Wake and the six surrounding counties.
Facts…- The Hospice and Palliative Care Center will be centrally located on 8.7 acres of land in Cary, North Carolina.
- The new facility is near Trinity Road and Interstate-40, in a much more accessible location to major highways and roads.
- In June 2006 the Council of State offered Hospice of Wake County a $1 per term 25-year renewable lease on this land, which is surrounded on two sides by pasture managed by North Carolina State University and is convenient to the medical centers in Wake and Durham counties.
- The Hospice and Palliative Care Center will consist of two buildings, totaling 42,000 square feet. The first building is the 19,000 square foot Hospice House that will include 14 acute care beds and six residential beds. The rooms will be larger than hospital rooms and will accommodate overnight stays by family members. Each room will have a private bath and will open through doors to a semi-private patio with space enough to roll a patient bed. Medical equipment will be hidden from view. The landscaping will incorporate the healing elements of nature. There will also be space dedicated to families; a play room for children will connect to a family room with a fireplace and a kitchen where favorite meals can be cooked for patients. Several rooms will be available for quiet reflection, counseling and meditation. In order to provide for the needs of working family members, we will include a home office with area for laptops and phones. Our goal is to provide a space that is comfortable to the patient and the family. In this new Center, HOWC expects to temporarily house more than 600 persons per year.
- The second building, the community building, constructed adjacent to the Hospice House, will be approximately 23,000 square feet. It will feature an auditorium, office suites for each department, meeting spaces, and a state of the art bereavement center for adults and children. The two-story building will provide space for people to meet, for community education programs, for children to take part in play and art therapy sessions, for adults to participate in counseling programs, and for a lending library.
- A third building is the spiritual sanctuary, which is the 1,000 square foot building that will seat 50. This space will be used formally for interfaith services such as memorial services and funerals, and more informally by staff and families for prayer, quiet reflection and meditation.
