First Rockland Hospice Home Celebrates Grand Opening

The smell of paint was still fresh and the beds had never been slept in.  Many gathered last night to celebrate a first in Rockland County. United Hospice of Rockland officially opened the Joe Raso Hospice Residence (JRHR) Wednesday night making it the first hospice home in the county.

Hospice of Rockland provides patients with advanced illnesses an opportunity to live in comfort with dignity surrounded by loved ones. Hospice also offers palliative care, bereavement support and information on end of life issues.

JRHR hopes to start admitting patients as early as March 1 and expects to serve between 70-90 patients in its first year.

“We’ve tried to accommodate and anticipate the needs of the people,” said Hospice’s Executive Director Amy Stern. “The care given here is going to surpass care that’s been provided in traditional settings.”

“Unlike a hospital, families and friends can come and go as they wish 24/7. They can stay overnight. Pets and children can visit,” said Director of Development Lanie Etkind. “Once people are here, this is their home, and most likely this will be their last home and we want to make their stay as comfortable as possible.”

The 10-bed facility is equipped with 24/7 nurses and home help aides. There’s a chef on hand 12 hours a day to create any meal requests and the rooms are designed in a way to accommodate the patient and guests.

“The hospice mission really isn’t just about the patient, but the family too. Here the patient and the family are really under our care and we try to make both really comfortable in their time of need,” said Etkind.

“It’s simply beautiful. I was a past volunteer for many years and as someone who will be making use of it in the near future, I know I will be most comfortable and well taken care of,” Alan Weinstein typed on his iPad because he could not speak. “Also, my family and friends will have the opportunity to visit and comfort me 24/7.”

Hospice cares to 130-150 patients each day in the community in different environments, such as the patients’ homes. Now there’s another option for those nearing the end of their lives.

“People were going to other places outside of the community, but when you’re dying, you want to be close to home, be near family and friends, use the doctor you’re familiar with, you want your clergy to be able to visit,” said Etkind.  “If you can stay in your own community, it’s a large benefit for the patient and the families.”

“It’s so exciting. It’s such an amazing facility,” said Senator David Carlucci. “It just shows the commitment of the people involved with Hospice. They just went above and beyond.”

At the grand opening, there were guided tours, refreshments and a short program thanking those involved followed by Tess McCormack Raso performing the ribbon cutting.

“Our (Hospice) board members are volunteers  … and all the work done here is out of the goodness of their hearts,” said McCormack. “I’m so thankful for the community support. This is just the beginning, we still have a lot of (fundraising) work to do.”

“Some people know about Hospice and some people have experienced Hospice, but I know that they do some incredible work that I know I could never do,” said UHR Board Member and chair of the Construction Committee Joe Lagana.

The Before

It hasn’t been an easy road because it took time for many regulations, laws and codes to be created and pass.

“This has been a long time in the making. It took time for the state to allow for there to be hospice residences,” said Etkind. “We then had to find property for the residence. Zoning regulations for hospice had to be created. When we saw this property, we knew it was the place. The natural beauty was perfect.”

The property was formerly a single family home used as an office for a construction company. The single family home is still on site, but did not meet the codes for a hospice home so the current building is all new construction.

“It’s lovely to see the opening of the Joe Raso Hospice Residence. It’s so wonderful to see how they made such a beautiful facility in such a short amount of time,” said Clarkstown Councilwoman Stephanie Hausner.

“Hospice did a wonderful job making this a warm facility for their patients and the community at large,” said Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski.

Fundraising

“Capitol campaign raised a little under $6.5 million. About $1.5 million is to be set aside as an endowment and that money is promised to us, but not in our hands yet. The endowment will generate income in the future and that will be used for people who want to come here but perhaps cannot afford the care.

said Etkind. ““The fundraising never stops and has been going on for more than five years now.” The $6.5 million covers everything that is on the site from the purchasing of the property to everything in the residence like the furniture, equipment, oxygen system, generator, carpeting, etc…

Since the 10,000 square-foot building sits on 11 acres and there are 24-hour nurses and home help aides, there are high personnel and maintenance cost.

“Even though we’ve met our goal for our capitol campaign, we’re always going to be fundraising to keep (the place running).”

Those Involved

There were many involved to create the JRHR.  The hospice home is named after Joe Raso, who along with his wife Tess McCormack Raso, chaired the UHR capital campaign to build the residence and donated almost $2.5 million toward the residence.

“A lot of love and work went into this. Joe was here when we broke ground (in October 2010), but unfortunately, he died in December 2010. He didn’t see this finish, but fortunately, he did see the ground breaking and watch the excavation,” said Etkind.

“This is a dream beyond my wildest dream. This is magnificent,” said McCormack Raso. “I just wished Joe was here to see it in its completion.”

Under the tiled floor in the foyer, buried in the ground is a memory box dedicated to Joe Raso. McCormack Raso added that one of the things she added in the memory box was a cigar and cigar cutter for Joe.

“I would like to believe that in some way (through the memory box) Joe will know everybody that comes here,” said Stern.

“He has done good for hundreds of people that many don’t even know about. My only regret is that he couldn’t be here for this day today,” said Lagana. “I certainly kept my commitment to him. I know Tess is feeling my same pain.”

Among those who helped with this project are: the town of Clarkstown, Supervisor Alex Gromack, Architect Jay Machado, Project Manager Bill Bernstein, Designers Patricia D’Auria, Jim Acunto and Rachael Caliman, Attorney Ira Emanuel, Contractors Chris and Joe Montana and of course, the UHR board of directors.

County Executive Scott Vanderhoef and Joe Abate of Office of Community Development helped secure more than $1 million in federal funding for the project as well.

“It’s a wonderful facility for residents of Clarkstown and Rockland,” said Clarkstown Supervisor Alex Gromack. “They worked closely with area residents so it fit into the surrounding community very well.”

Patients

We just got the certificate of occupancy today,” said Etkind. “We’ll be ready to admit residents at the beginning of March. We just need to wait for all the final approvals that we need. We just need the state health department to come in and they don’t come in until everything is completely done.” She is referring to finishing touches such as a welcome desk and minor details.

The hospice home would be for someone who is in hospice, but is in an unsafe or undesirable environment and needed to be elsewhere. Etkind gave two examples:

Years ago, three men lived together in a group home for the mentally disabled. They were fully functional enough to live on their own with supervision, but one of them became sick with cancer and their roommates were not equipped to take care of them.

In another situation, there was a patient in the hospice program when her husband got a heart attack. While he’s in the hospital, there was no one to take care of her.

We’re estimating around two weeks, pretty much end of life

“Anyone that comes here will need to qualify medically for hospice. Then after that, people that are most in need of a safe environment will have first priority here and of course, people from Rockland will have priority,” said Etkind, adding that they estimate the average person admitted into the hospice home will have about two weeks left to live.

“We have a set of criteria to determine if somebody is medically and appropriate for hospice care. One of the criteria is people who would have a shorter length of stay (than) someone who will move in for six months. This way we can serve the most amount of people. There are other options for people who have long-term needs.”

Residence Care

Nurses and home help aides are there 24/7 and nurses will be wearing a beeper as a subtle call system. There will not be any buzzes, bells or lights flashing

All other people involved in hospice care will come and visit patients as needed, just as if the patient was in their own home.

A chef is on duty 12 hours each day to make any requested meals. Music, pet and massage therapy are provided as well.

Open House

Open House is Thursday, Feb. 16 from 3-7 p.m. and Friday, Feb. 17 from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.  There will be guided tours and light refreshments and opportunities to review referral protocol. There’s no parking available on site so an ongoing shuttle service between the residence and the Gracepoint Gospel Fellowship will be offered.

RSVP with Lisa at 845.634.4974 or Ldenburg@HospiceOfRockland.org

Staff was shown the hospice home on Monday and donors came Tuesday. Major donors and key players were invited on Wednesday for the ribbon cutting grand opening and newly-hired staff will be trained next week after the open house days.

Check back with Patch later today for a walkthrough of the building’s rooms, accommodations and details.