Capital Campaign

Coastal Hospice at the Ocean Residence Project

Home is a place where each of us feels safest, where we turn for comfort. This is one of the core beliefs inspiring Coastal Hospice. Since 1980 we have grown from serving a handful of patients to caring for more than 150 patients each day in the four counties we serve. We provide that care in nursing and assisted living facilities, at Coastal Hospice at the Lake and in private homes, where they are most apt to find peace and dignity in their final months. Yet for many in our region, home is no longer the safest place to receive care. Each day we see patients who struggle to remain safe at home. This effort takes its toll, not only on them, but also on family members and friends. 

It is time to create a hospice residence for Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore, a place where patients and their families can receive the medical, spiritual and emotional support they need. The Coastal Hospice at the Ocean Residence can become home to those in our region who need it most. Neither Medicare nor traditional insurance will reimburse Coastal Hospice for providing around-the-clock caregivers, comfortable rooms or nutritious, satisfying meals for residents.

For these patients the Coastal Hospice at the Ocean residence will provide the dignity of hospice care with the comforts of home. Six individual rooms will provide privacy, yet accommodate family members who wish to remain close at hand. Space will be provided for families to gather together and for individuals to find solitude.

Just as important as the residence, are the other programs that will operate from Coastal Hospice at the Ocean. First, the staff and volunteers who care for patients and families in Worcester and Somerset Counties – usually about 50-75 patients each day – will be based here. Closer to the patients’ homes, the care team builds relationships that benefit patients and families.

Outreach programs, based in the Palliative Care, or Life Center, of CHO, will offer grief support for all in the community who would benefit – whether or not we cared for their loved one. In recent years, particularly in Worcester County, participants without a Coastal Hospice affiliation have frequently outnumbered those with whom we have been involved.

To sustain operations at the residence, Coastal Hospice is following the example of other successful hospice organizations in creating a revenue source. The Coastal Hospice Thrift Shop opened in April, 2011 and is expected to produce a profit $100,000 annually to fund the residence once it is built.

The designer of the residence is Hospice Design Resources, a national leader in the field. The architect of record for Coastal Hospice at the Ocean is the Salisbury, Maryland-based Becker Morgan.

Based on the space required and current construction, furnishing and equipment costs, we expect to spend $5 million to create the Coastal Hospice at the Ocean Residence, from the purchase of property through interior design and landscaping.

Population projections indicate that the need for Coastal Hospice to expand and enhance its programs and services in the four counties we serve will continue to grow for years to come. If we are to create, sustain and grow Coastal Hospice at the Ocean Residence, the time to begin is now.

To view a video about the project, click HERE.

For information about how you can help, please email Coastal Hospice Development Director Maureen McNeill or call 410-641-5481.