NMMC DONATES $150,000 TO SANCTUARY HOSPICE HOUSE

A generous $150,000 donation from North Mississippi Medical Center will provide funding for the construction and furnishings for one wing of the Sanctuary Hospice House currently under construction in west Tupelo.

John Heer, NMMC president and chief executive officer, toured the construction site Nov. 18 with Nancy Collins, president of the Sanctuary Hospice House Board of Directors, and Jim Ingram, treasurer of the Sanctuary Hospice House Board, to see the areas that will benefit from NMMC’s financial support. The facility will have four wings, and each wing has patient rooms.

Sanctuary Hospice House, which is targeted to open in Spring 2005, will be an inpatient hospice facility for those who can no longer be cared for within their own home. The house will serve as an alternative to admission into a hospital or nursing home. It is designed to meet the specific and sensitive needs of the dying patient and family members.

The facility’s staff will be trained in pain management and hospice care, emotional and spiritual support, and long-term family grief counseling. In addition, it will provide the comforts and privacy of home living.

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