Central Oregon’s leading hospice organization has reached an important milestone in its campaign to raise $6 million in donations to construct a new Hospice House. Partners In Care announced today that it has raised $4.3 million thanks in large part to major gifts from the Tykeson Family Foundation, Roundhouse Foundation and St. Charles. Over 500 other contributions have been made to the project, now at two-thirds of its goal.
A $1 million grant from Tykeson challenged the organization to raise $1 million more in matching funds, which it did well before the June 30 deadline. Next up was a $750,000 grant from the Roundhouse Foundation that was inspired by the success of the Sisters Country Challenge which has raised over $130,000 to sponsor the Three Sisters patient suite at the new Hospice House. Finally, St. Charles announced today that a grant totaling $400,000 will be made jointly by the St. Charles Foundation and the Community Benefit Program of St. Charles Health System.
“We are enormously grateful for the outpouring of support from the Central Oregon community,” said Eric Alexander, president and CEO of Partners In Care. “Conducting a major campaign during the pandemic has been challenging, but people have come forward with gifts both large and small. Each gift has been highly meaningful, and often accompanied by notes of gratitude for the end-of-life care received by their loved ones.”
Alexander noted that Partners In Care and St. Charles are longtime partners in the continuum of healthcare from the acute care setting at one of many St. Charles’ hospitals to the post-acute care services provided by Partners In Care through in-home visits by its professional caregivers and the in-patient care at Hospice House. It was Sister Catherine Hellmann, former CEO of St. Charles, who in 1979 lent her support to the efforts of the nurses who volunteered to take care of Bend’s terminally ill patients.
“The volunteer nurses called themselves Friends of Hospice, which became the forerunner of Partners In Care,” noted Alexander. “Later, in 2002, St. Charles backed the development of the region’s first dedicated hospice in-patient facility as they supplied the volunteer leadership to conduct a $3.5 million capital campaign to construct the current 6-bed Hospice House.”
A major gift from the Roundhouse Foundation came as a big surprise to Partners’ fundraising staff who wrote a proposal for a $20,000 grant and then were informed that it would be funded at $750,000. In a statement published in The Nugget Newspaper yesterday, Roundhouse co-founder and trustee Kathy Deggendorfer said, “The Roundhouse Foundation is grateful for the kind and compassionate service that the Partners In Care Hospice House provides for our community. We are pleased to join so many others in Sisters who have generously supported the expansion of the facilities. For us, it is important to nurture all phases of an individual’s life… from birth to the final stages. We believe [that]to have a community full of kindness, you must participate in the creation of that community. We support the important work of the Partners In Care Hospice House.”
The new Hospice House will double its capacity to serve patients who have received a medical prognosis of a terminal illness. Whether they are seeking medical stabilization of a crisis before returning home, actively dying, or are having a short-term stay while their family members receive some respite from caregiving, Hospice House will provide the highest level of hospice care in a homelike setting. Construction will conclude late this summer and open for new patients in the fall.
For more information about Partners In Care and A New Home for Hospice campaign, visit partnersbend.org/campaign.
