A private, anonymous donation of $2 million has revitalized plans for a proposed OSF Hospice Home to serve terminally ill patients and support their families in the Peoria area.

The donation to OSF Home Care Services, which intends to build the area’s first hospice home near the OSF Center for Health on Route 91 northwest of the city, was announced on Wednesday, Aug. 11.
Plans for the proposed 16-bed facility were announced in the spring of 2007. The economic downturn, however, caused the project to be placed on hold.

“This donation has allowed us to revitalize our fundraising efforts for our proposed OSF Hospice Home,” said Roger Meyer, executive director of OSF Healthcare Foundation. “It provides us the momentum we needed to continue to seek public support and to rekindle awareness for the many benefits which a hospice home only can provide.

“This is such a blessing and we are extremely grateful for this gift,” added Meyer.

The $2 million donation brings the total of funds raised for the hospice home to $3.7 million, about half of the anticipated project cost.

Meanwhile, the state of Illinois recently approved an extension of the OSF Hospice Home license, which would require the home to be fully operational by April 1, 2013.

“A HOME AWAY FROM HOME”
OSF estimates that nearly 1,200 patients and their families would be served each year by the hospice home, which would be only the fourth of its kind in Illinois and the first in the region.

The proposed facility is designed to be a “home away from home” for patients who cannot receive care in their own homes because of the progression of their illness or lack of family or others to care for them in that setting. The focus is on patient comfort and the ability for family and friends to spend quality time with their loved one in a home-like setting without the worry of providing needed care.

Specially trained staff members and volunteers would be available 24 hours a day at OSF Hospice Home, which would feature a chapel as well as family gathering areas. A virtual tour of the planned facility is available online at www.osfhomecare.org. The site also includes testimonials about hospice care and donation opportunities.

“In all of the hospice homes we’ve visited throughout the United States, the overwhelming sense of love and care that permeates from staff and volunteers is absolutely God’s will in action,” said Donna Medina, vice-president of OSF Hospice. In her video testimonial online, she tells the story of her own mother’s passing and the difficulties in making end-of-life decisions.

“I cannot adequately describe the sense of closure and peace that hospice can provide to patients and their loved ones,” said Medina in announcing the gift. “These homes make it possible for all terminally ill patients to have that special experience.”

OSF Home Care Services is a division of OSF Healthcare System and OSF Saint Francis Inc.