May 1, 2007 (Peoria, IL) OSF Home Care, a part of OSF Healthcare System based in Peoria, Illinois, is planning to build this area’s only Hospice Home -- a 16-bed Hospice respite to support an estimated 1400 terminally-ill patients and their families per year during the final stages of life, according to Katie Jones, OSF Home Care administrator.

Hospice homes are facilities which offer much more unique atmospheres and services than typical nursing homes, specialty mini-hospitals or other short-term care institutions. Hospice Homes are specifically designed as a residence facility for terminally-ill patients while accommodating the needs of family members and friends visiting or staying with the patient.
They are, essentially, designed to be a home away from home, often inviting patients and their families to surround themselves with familiar items from their own homes such as pictures, furniture, and sometimes even pets. Here they receive 24-hour care and can enjoy the time they have left with friends and family, pain and symptom free and surrounded by love.

Most patients in Hospice Homes need one of three services that cannot be provided to them with hospice care in their own homes:

- Advanced skilled care to help with on-site, 24/7 pain and symptom management;
- A brief respite for family members or friends who have been providing their care, or;
- A caregiver when there is no one at home to help them with their symptom management and special needs.

OSF Home Care conducted an extensive Hospice Home feasibility study during the last 18 months. Based upon those results, its OSF system board of directors recently approved it to seek state licensing for a Hospice Home in Peoria County to serve the central Illinois area. Late last month, OSF Home Care received state licensure approval – among the first few license’s granted in the state for this type of service. (Joliet has the only other currently operational Hospice Home in Illinois at this time). OSF Home Care must now generate the funds necessary to move forward, estimated at about $6 million. According to the terms of the license, OSF Home Care must begin building its Hospice Home within one year, or apply for an extension if it has not yet broken ground by that time. At this time, OSF Home Care is exploring plans to locate the facility on property which OSF HealthCare owns near its Rt. 91 Center for Health.

“We know this service is needed in this area,” said Jones, “and we are confident that our communities will help us achieve the financial commitments necessary to proceed with internal approvals to break ground within the state license timeframes.”

Hospice Homes are becoming more common in the US, according to national statistics. More than 18% of Hospices in the US have a Hospice Home as a part of their hospice services to their communities. Hospice services nationwide have doubled in the last five years alone, serving more than 1.2 million patients in 2005. As the benefit of hospice becomes more clear to the public, it is obvious that the public wants more access to this care. With 35 million Americans over the age of 65 in 2005, and with projections of that number doubling by 2020, healthcare organizations like OSF are wisely structuring their services to meet the needs of this population.