Last Updated on October 24, 2023 3:40 pm
On Sept. 26, two years after it announced its intent to build a hospice patient care unit to serve the High Country, AMOREM broke ground on its building project.
The private groundbreaking ceremony and blessing of the land marked a major milestone in the organization's $8 million Quality. Compassion. Support. campaign to bring a hospice patient care unit to residents of the High Country and their families.
“We are so excited to see construction for this project start,” says Vice President of Community Engagement, Kerri McFalls, “The High Country has waited long enough to have its own hospice patient care unit and AMOREM is honored to provide that service. As a non-profit hospice provider, none of this could have been possible without the tremendous support from those in the High Country who have made contributions to AMOREM’s Quality. Compassion. Support. campaign.”
Currently, High Country residents and their families must drive more than an hour to the nearest hospice patient care unit, taking precious moments away from families and their loved ones. In 2020 AMOREM filed a special needs petition with the NC Division of Health Service Regulation to apply for a certificate of need to build a patient care unit in the High Country. The application was approved in 2021.
Since then, AMOREM has raised more than $5 million toward the Quality. Compassion. Support. campaign to build a seven-bed hospice patient care unit with a full-time local staff dedicated to providing compassionate end-of-life care for residents of the High Country.
“When we began providing our full range of services to the High Country more than nine years ago,” says Vice President of Business Services, April Moore, “we were focused on meeting the needs of the community and bringing quality, compassionate palliative medicine and hospice care to the residents of Ashe, Avery and Watauga counties. It was not until we were approached by a group of passionate community members who saw the need that we began thinking about building a patient care unit. This groundbreaking is a celebration of hard work, remarkable generosity and meeting the needs of the High Country Community for years to come. We are so proud to partner with Appalachian Architecture and Greene Construction to turn this dream into a beautiful reality.”
The seven-bed unit will provide a homelike environment with large patient rooms and comfortable family areas in a peaceful setting on Moonstruck Lane in Boone. Appalachian Architecture designed the beautiful facility and Greene Construction will oversee the building of the facility.
“For those interested in making a gift to the campaign, it is not too late,” says McFalls, “No gift is too small, and all are appreciated.”
To learn more about the Quality. Compassion. Support. campaign, visit www.amoremsupport.org/donate/high-country-capital-campaign or call 828.754.0101.
