Memphis, Tenn., Dec. 12, 2007 – The state of Tennessee today approved a certificate of need to build the Baptist Trinity Hospice House, a residential hospice and bereavement center complex on the Baptist Memorial Hospital-Collierville campus.

The hospice house will be developed on approximately five acres. Baptist officials anticipate beginning construction in the spring of 2008, and the project is expected to be complete in about two years.

The new residence, or “hospice house,” is designed to serve terminally ill patients who are unable to be cared for in their own homes. The hospice house also will provide acute care to hospice patients requiring more complex medical treatments and services. A multidisciplinary group, including a team of doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, bereavement specialists and volunteers will provide care to patients and their loved ones.

The Hospice House will be funded by a comprehensive capital campaign: Our House is Your House. The campaign has already raised more than $7 million including lead gifts from the Kemmons Wilson Family Foundation and the Plough Foundation.

Families will receive additional support services, such as comfort baskets made by volunteers and anticipatory grief counseling to educate them about the changes their loved ones may experience. The residence also will offer pet, music and massage therapy.

A new facility for the Baptist Trinity Center for Good Grief will be built at the same time near the hospice house. The Center for Good Grief will offer year-round grief support services and will have an outdoor recreation therapy area, providing a camp-like atmosphere.

“We are very pleased with the state of Tennessee’s decision,” said Stephen Reynolds, president and CEO of Baptist Memorial Health Care. “The Baptist Trinity Hospice House will provide a caring atmosphere where the entire family can spend time with loved ones.”

Baptist is the only health care system in the Mid-South offering comprehensive end-of-life care that spans the entire continuum of care. The scope of services includes inpatient hospice; palliative care programs in four large, acute-care hospitals; grief camps for children and adults; and a comprehensive bereavement center.

In 2005, Baptist Trinity opened the Baptist Trinity Center for Good Grief, the region’s first comprehensive grief center for children, teenagers and adults. In addition to Camp Good Grief programs for children, teens and adults who have recently lost loved ones, the center offers individual and group counseling, community education and crisis intervention, all available free of charge because of donors and grants from the community.

In 2006, Baptist Trinity opened Memphis’ first and only inpatient hospice unit at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis, expanding the end-of-life care provided to patients and family members.

Baptist Trinity offers comprehensive home care and hospice programs throughout West Tennessee and North Mississippi, ranging from in-home rehabilitation services to comprehensive end-of-life support and care. Registered nurses; certified nursing assistants; medical social workers; and physical, speech and occupational therapists are available, along with daily home monitoring services through the HomMed Health Monitoring System.

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