Forrest General Healthcare Foundation to open Asbury Hospice House
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - This is a press release from Forrest General Hospital.
The Forrest General Healthcare Foundation will open the Asbury Hospice House Sunday during its open house ceremony.
The hospice house will begin accepting patients in the Pine Belt community who require end of life care.
“I am happy to see the opening of the Asbury Hospice House today. The generous contributions from our community and Forrest General employees have made this project possible. There are no words to express how humbled and honored I feel to have been a part of this project,” said Martha Dearman, executive director of the Forrest General Healthcare foundation.
The Asbury Hospice House is located on South 40th Avenue near the Hattiesburg Post Office on nearly five acres of land donated by Susan Thomson and her brother, John Thomson.
The property is surrounded with pines and other native trees and plants and will provide a peaceful environment for patients and those visiting with them.
The new hospice house will offer a home-like setting where staff can address the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of each patient and their family.
From the moment they enter through the welcoming doors, families will find spacious patient rooms, dining area and kitchen facilities, a comfortable family room, a meditation room, and garden all coupled with the best available care.
The Asbury Hospice House is designed to provide for every aspect of care a family may need when facing the terminal illness of their loved one.
“This beautiful facility will offer terminal patients and their families the unique opportunity to receive round the clock care in an environment specifically designed to feel like home. I am happy that we can now begin accepting patients and providing them with the care they need in this lovely setting,” said Melita Miller, director of Home Care and Hospice at Forrest General Hospital.
Hospice care is provided for those with a limited life expectancy and focuses on making patients as free of pain and comfortable as possible while improving their quality of life.
Hospice staff members work hand-in-hand with palliative care nurses and physicians who focus on the unique needs of a patient facing a terminal illness.
The Pine Belt is in need of a facility like the Asbury Hospice House to help with those patients who need around-the-clock care but may not have caregivers who can provide that at home. For such patients, the hospice house will be a beautiful place to spend their last weeks or days surrounded by family, friends and caring physicians and staff who are experts in hospice care.
Over 3,000 donors contributed more than 5 million dollars to this project.
The Asbury Foundation generously donated 1.5 million dollars, which gave them the naming opportunity for the new facility.
