After years of dreaming, fundraising, planning and construction, the Merrimack Valley Hospice House on North Avenue in Haverhill has officially opened its doors.
More than 600 people were expected at the ribbon cutting and open house Tuesday. They included major financial supporters, employees and volunteers. All shared a strong belief in the work that will be done at the facility, which will be a place of comfort for terminally ill patients and their families who are unable to receive hospice care at their homes.
"It has been so long coming," said volunteer Paul Lawson of Haverhill. "It's going to benefit so many families. It's just tremendous."
Before the green ribbon on the front door was officially cut, Joan Stygles Hull, president of the Home Health Foundation, which oversees Merrimack Valley Hospice and Home Health VNA, addressed the crowd.
"I want you to see what you made possible," she said. "I want you to see what you have built."
Guests were treated to a tour of the facility.
Once inside, they were welcomed by a burning fireplace and a bubbling fountain.
The smell of new furniture, paint and carpet was fresh in the air.
Tissues were readily available throughout the tour as emotions overwhelmed many guests, particularly at the pediatric room where a crib had been set up.
The 14 patient suites feature individual color schemes, but all have warm colors and comfortable furniture.
The couches in each room pull out to a queen size bed, so that loved ones can stay with the patients.
Floor-to-ceiling windows give patients beautiful views of the nature around them and the doors are wide enough so that patient beds can be wheeled outside on each room's private patio.
Even the oxygen tanks are hidden in the wall, so that families don't have all the medical equipment in their faces all the time.
Visitors are welcome 24 hours a day.
"The rooms are specifically designed with the patients in mind," said Merrimack Valley Hospice House Director Starr Shallow. "It feels like home. It doesn't feel like a clinical space."
The Hospice House features a meditation garden, an outdoor walking path, a sanctuary with a pulpit and stained glass windows, two libraries, a kitchen, and a spa with a specially designed bath for bed-bound patients and a hair stylist's chair.
All the amenities are to ensure that patients and their families are comfortable in their final days.
"We're happy to offer a place where people's lives can be celebrated," said Shallow, who was hired in March to direct the facility. "We feel it's a sacred place. It's tangible. It's in the air. But we want this to be a place where laughter is encouraged, where children can play."
Shallow is happy to be back with the Home Health Foundation. She started the Maternal Child Health Department at Home Health VNA and has returned after 13 years away from the organization.
"I'm a late-comer, but I'm just happy to be invited to the party," she said, giving credit to the people who spent years making the Hospice House a reality.
She described hospice care as a calling more than a career, a job that requires nurses, physicians, social workers and chaplains to play an integral role in the final days of someone's life.
Although not for everyone, the job is one of the most rewarding Shallow can think of.
"I want to know that I've made a difference at the end of the day," she said. "To have a family member tell me I made a difference in their loved one's life, that I made a difference in their life, is amazing. It's an honor to be invited to that most intimate of moments."
Shallow has not only seen hospice care from the nurse's angle, but from the family's perspective. She lost her brother six years ago, when he was just 46 years old.
Because of the hospice care he received at his home, Shallow was able to put aside her nurse duties and be there as his sister.¬
Shallow and her brother loved to call each other and talk about the different feathered creatures they would spot at their bird feeders.
When his hospice nurse moved Shallow's brother to a hospital bed in his living room, he could no longer see his birds, so Shallow got outside and moved his bird feeder into his view.
"I think that's what hospice does. It allows families to be families and not caretakers anymore," Shallow said, tearing up. "They can just be a sister, a mother, a spouse. They can start the work of letting go without the stress of being a caretaker 24/7. It gives them time to move the bird feeder."
