Every successful venture begins with a vision which is shared by or supported by the faithful trust of a larger group. Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care has been blessed over its history with visionaries, vision, and the faithful trust of that larger group.
1980: Catherine Respess Barnes introduced the “hospice” concept to Rev. Parker Williamson, First Presbyterian Church of Lenoir senior minister, and to her church's family night congregation, attended by Dr. Jane Carswell, who gathered people at her house, including Respess Barnes, Williamson, and interested members of the community.
1981: Steering committee: Rev. Parker Williamson, Hannah Williamson, Nell Greene, Bobbie Triplett, Sarah Bolick, John Forlines, Wallace Respess, Catherine “Tyu Tyu” Respess Barnes, Fred Soule, Dr. Newell Shull, Melvin Martin, J. Harper Beall III, and Ann[e] Lutz. They spoke with area doctors concerning treatments for terminally ill patients; contacted Judith Lund/Hospice of NC, who came to speak with them; they formed a non-profit corporation. Julia Forlines, terminally ill, offered to serve as “public speaker” to 40 clubs and organizations.
1982: Hospice began in a donated Sunday School room, with money donated by First Presbyterian Church of Lenoir, Episcopal Diocese of NC, and Lenoir Service League; one full-time employee, Gibbie Harris, RN, with volunteer nurses: Catherine Respess Barnes, Avis Corpening, and Bobbie Triplett. Dr. Robert Belk joined as board member and volunteer medical director, July 1982; he referred the first patient to Hospice. Roberta Blinson was first volunteer and remains one today.
1983: Gibbie Harris, executive director, noted that, by the end of the first year, Hospice had served 37 families, with volunteers providing much of patient care and office work.
1984: Caldwell County Hospice received initial state licensure in October. First benefit luncheon, with Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University men's basketball coach, guest speaker. Miss Margaret Harper died on November 8th and bequeathed her home, Kirkwood, to First Presbyterian Church, to be used for Hospice as long as Hospice needed it. The church later agreed to lease the house to Hospice for 99 years at $1.00 per year. Hospice had four full-time and one part-time staff members; it served 56 patients for the year, and had served 100+ patients since its beginning. Hospice volunteer chaplaincy program was initiated by Rev. George Sinclair, United Presbyterian Church pastor and Hospice board member. The Lenoir Service League's “Just for Kicks” Follies raised $190,000 for “Home for Hospice.”
1985: Caldwell County Hospice became Medicare certified, with an August survey date set. More staff members were hired. The board of directors proposed patient-care-unit plans. “Harper House” renovation was approved.
1986: Hospice moved its offices to Kirkwood; patient care unit drawings were presented at December board meeting.
1987: Fifth anniversary, with the Open House ceremony in October.
1989: NC's first free-standing patient care unit was dedicated on January 15.
1990: Cathy (Simmons) Swanson was appointed executive director, after serving as a staff medical social worker since August 1988. Shifts in patient census and staff occurred throughout the year.
1992: 10th anniversary open house, June 28. Hospice had served nearly 800 patients and families in first decade. The patient care unit was dedicated as the William E. Stevens Jr. PCU; “A Decade of Caring” progress report. Growth rate and tight staff space = Carriage House renovations bids/begun/progressing.
1994: Hospice care extended to nursing homes in January, pilot project with Lenoir Living Center; Camelot recommended for next nursing home project; immediate need for office space.
1995: Camelot nursing home agreement signed; June patient census at an all-time high. Dr. Belk stopped practicing medicine in May; Dr. Andy Metzger volunteered to take over medical director's responsibilities.
1996: The Caldwell Hospice Foundation was established (its first meeting on October 15th), according to John A. Forlines, Jr: “to build an endowment fund which will enable Hospice to continue to provide personal, caring service to our terminally-ill friends and neighbors and their families in the future, regardless of changes that may be forthcoming in the health care industry.”
Dr. Robert Belk joined Hospice staff as full-time medical director, with John Bowen, James Gardner, and Norm Einstein serving as associate medical directors.
1998: A virtual tour of Hospice's facility on the Internet was made possible through an IBM promotion with Hospice For the Carolinas. First accreditation by the Accreditation Commission for Home Care in 1998.
1999: First Hospice website designed by Eileen Metzger (Hospice nurse Dottie's daughter), for ASU class project. News-Topic article reported that more than 2,300 terminally ill patients and their families had been served since 1982. Hospice video updated as educational tool for community groups.
2001: Hospice earned re-accreditation in 2001 from the Accreditation Commission for Health Care. Transitions program was initiated, with medical social worker Pam Adams serving as its first coordinator. Office addition constructed in 2001-2002; Caldwell Partnership for End-of-Life Care, a community coalition to increase awareness of importance of advance-care planning, established.
2002: Open house for new 4,000 SF addition, including chapel, office space, Wilson Meeting Room, renovation of main house, and refurbishing of six-bed PCU. Catawba Valley Neighbors, 05/26/02 article, announced John A. Forlines Jr. Distinguished Service Award, “during the open house at the Hospice in Lenoir this month”—May 5th.
2004: “Ashewood,” JW Greer home at 1002 Ashe Avenue, was purchased and renovated, opening to house Ashewood Grief and Counseling Services of Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care. Hospice earned re-accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Health Care this year.
2005: Hospice collaborated with Caldwell Memorial Hospital to create the Caldwell Partnership for Palliative Care. On July 1st, Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care, Inc., became our name, officially, to enhance and strengthen our expertise with issues surrounding quality of life, end of life, and grief and counseling assistance. It symbolizes our ongoing ability to recognize the growing needs of this community and allows room to develop services in the future.
2006: Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care opened a "work station" office in Granite Falls in March, so that its home care services and staff members would be "closer to home" for patients and families in southern Caldwell County.
2007: Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care celebrated its 25th anniversary of serving patients, their families, and the community. In June, an audience of more than 200 attended a special celebration at Kirkwood. CHPC Executive Director Cathy Swanson presented Dr. Robert Belk, CHPC's medical director, with the first-ever Robert S. Belk MD Excellence in Hospice Care Award, citing his compassion, dedication, and gentle spirit. CHPC Board of Directors President Parker Williamson, former hospice steering committee member Catherine Barnes, and former executive director Gibbie Harris shared recollections of "the beginning years." In October, CHPC hired a second full-time physician, Dr. Thomas Ray. He left his physical medicine and rehabilitation practice, joined the Hospice team, and focused on palliative medicine. CHPC earned re-accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Health Care.
2008: CHPC, after completing the Certificate of Need process, gained approval from the North Carolina Division of Health Services Regulation and began construction in November on a 64-acre site in southern Caldwell County. Two buildings are under construction - (a) a 15,135 square-foot, 12-bed patient care unit to provide both acute and residential hospice care and (b) an 11,845 square-foot professional center to house key clinical and patient care support staff, as well as to provide community education space for greater outreach: conducting advance directives programs and general hospice education for patients, families, loved ones, and caregivers.
CHPC received two separate, unexpected financial gifts. The family of the late Marjorie Suddreth delivered a $12,400 gift that had been collected for a liver transplant. Ms. Suddreth developed complications and died before the transplant could occur. Just a short time later, Lenoir's News-Topic reported on a special presentation by the family of the late Thomas "Jack" Robbins; CHPC was among six local businesses and organizations plus one nationally known hospital to receive a combined $14.8 million. To finance its construction project, CHPC initiated "A Bold Vision, Honoring Faithful Service: The Capital Campaign for Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care."
2009: Dr. Thomas Ray earned certification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM). CHPC celebrated the 20th anniversary of its six-bed patient care unit at Kirkwood. The first free-standing patient care unit in North Carolina accepted its first hospice patient in February 1989.
Over 300 people, representing 66 area churches, gathered Sunday, September 13, at the Pine Mountain Road construction site for a very special prayer service, Bless This House—Building on a Foundation of Prayer. Churches throughout Caldwell County made up a 67-voice choir that sang “A Resting Place Along Life’s Way,” with lyrics written for the event by Caldwell County native Danny Hendrix.
Current overview:
Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care now cares for more than 140 hospice patients each day (over twice its 2002 patient census) and served 574 patients in 2008-2009. With its total days of care numbering 42,226 - the second-highest in the organization's history - CHPC is the 25th-largest of North Carolina's 76 hospices, the seventh-most-utilized hospice in North Carolina, and for more than 15 years, among the top 10 of most-utilized hospice providers.
Caldwell Hospice has served over 5000 terminally ill patients and their families since its inception. With a paid staff of approximately 75 people (including full-time medical director, hospice physician, nurse practitioner, registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, social workers, support staff, and administrative staff) and volunteers numbering nearly 400 (adults and volunTEENS), Caldwell Hospice has stretched the boundaries of hospice care to include Walking the Mourner's Path®, Grief at Work, Grief in Schools, and services that meet the growing needs of our community and address the unmet needs of folks living with life-threatening illnesses who are expected to live longer than six months, to help those coping with loss, and to educate the community on end-of-life-care issues.
Looking to the future:
2010: On April 26, Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care’s Board of Directors named its 64-acre site in Hudson the Jack and Shirley Robbins Center. In 2008, Caldwell Hospice was among seven beneficiaries of the Jack Robbins estate, receiving a $2.12 million dollar gift. The donation kick-started Caldwell Hospice’s capital campaign to raise funds for constructing the additional patient care unit and professional center on Pine Mountain Road.
On May 13, the State Employees’ Credit Union (SECU) announced that its members through the SECU Foundation had granted $300,000 to Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care to assist with the construction of its additional hospice facility at the Jack and Shirley Robbins Center. On hand for the SECU Foundation check presentation were numerous Caldwell Hospice officials, Credit Union representatives, and SECU Advisory Board volunteers, including Joan Vaughan of the Lenoir Board and Peggy Throneburg of the Granite Falls Board.
CHPC expects the Robbins Center construction project to be completed and the first patient to be admitted to the new 12-bed facility in July. Coupled with Kirkwood's existing six-bed patient care unit, CHPC will have 18 available beds: nine acute care (including respite care) and nine residential hospice beds. Direct-care staff members moved from the Granite Falls office to the new professional center center in February 2010. In addition to office space, the professional center offers comfortable meeting space for educational and informational programs. Caldwell Hospice held its annual volunteer banquet there in May 2010.
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