The future for Merrimack Valley Hospice is a 24-hour facility that will put terminally ill patients and their families in dedicated and caring hands.
Merrimack Valley Hospice House will be hidden deep in the woods, with a 750-foot driveway leading up to the facility. The 14 private rooms will look out into untouched Haverhill wilderness and feature patios so patients and their families can take in the outdoors. There are also accommodations for family members who wish to stay overnight, common areas with koi fish ponds and waterfalls, a library and more.
It wasn't easy finding the right spot for the hospice house. Joan Stygles Hull, chief executive officer of Home Health Foundation, parent company of Merrimack Valley Hospice, said it took more than two years before Haverhill attorney Dick Sheehan and Haverhill Realtor King Davis helped them secure the site. According to Stygles Hull, one of Sheehan's clients was looking to sell her property. The client had offers from developers looking to build condos, but wanted to sell it to Merrimack Valley Hospice because she believed in the mission.
Stygles Hull sees Merrimack Valley Hospice's first building project as a refuge for people in their final days.
"We're going to try to make it as much like a home as possible," Stygles Hull said. "This is going to be a very special place."
Because this is the first hospice house in the Merrimack Valley, people will be able to stay close to their community and the family they love. Before this facility, terminally ill patients who could no longer stay in their homes had to move to a facility farther from home.
"A young woman dying of breast cancer probably doesn't want to spend her last weeks in a nursing home," Stygles Hull said. "And hospitals are set up mostly to cure people."
On April 16, the day of the ground-breaking, there was just a patch of dirt cleared out of the woods on North Avenue.
The ground-breaking was attended by many board members, Merrimack Valley Hospice employees and state and city politicians who have been working to make this dream a reality — a turnout Stygles Hull was thrilled about.
"We've had a lot of support from elected officials for this project," she said.
And progress is happening at an exciting pace — that small patch that was cleared for the April 16 ground-breaking became four acres the next day. The expected grand opening for the $8 million hospice house is spring 2009.
"Things are really beginning to move," Stygles Hull said.
Once a foundation is up and a stable driveway is put in, there will be a topping-off ceremony — a larger community celebration that takes place when the top beam is added to the skeleton of the building. Guests from the community are invited to sign their name on the beam before the rest of the building is put together.
Stygles Hull estimates this project has been in the works for four to five years. It is a dream come true for all involved. What started with a simple feasibility study is now a reality.
"As a nonprofit, it's our mission to serve the community," Stygles Hull said, "and we're always looking for new ways to do that better. That's what we see as our reason for being."
Stygles Hull sees Merrimack Valley Hospice House as a new way to help people in a time of need.
"Our society is judged by how we take care of people at the beginning of their lives and at the end," she said.
Stygles Hull has been doing a quiet fundraising campaign, but soon she will deliver her plea to the general public.
To make a donation, send checks to Merrimack Valley Hospice House, c/o Home Health Foundation, 360 Merrimack St., Lawrence, MA 01843.
