The Hospice of the Western Reserve broke ground Wednesday on a new 32-bed facility in Cleveland's North Collinwood neighborhood.
The new, $25 million building will replace a 30-year-old facility located adjacent to it on East 185th Street and will have a different look and feel than the old site, said Laura Rayburn, president of the Hospice of the Western Reserve Foundation.
"It doesn't smell like a hospital, look like a hospital or sound like a hospital," Rayburn said. "Many people will have a very visceral reaction when you walk into a hospital setting, right? It has a certain smell. It's very stark. It's very bright."
The new facility will provide patients and family members with suites that ensure quiet settings and privacy, she said. Each suite will also face Lake Erie with patio access for residents.
"We have this beautiful asset of the lake, and we know the importance of water and how it can relieve stress, how it can reduce anxiety," Rayburn said.
The facility also keeps medical equipment hidden from view to reduce stress and anxiety while providing the acute care patients need, she said. This can include having the ports for equipment to help with breathing located behind a picture above a bed's headboard, so it's out of sight when not needed, Rayburn said.
The old facility, for which there are no current reuse plans, is being replaced due to rising maintenance and repair costs.
Well-designed physical environments can reduce suffering and improve quality of life for end-of-life care for patients, their families, and their caregivers, said Jill Dunaway, administrator for Cleveland Clinic Hospice.
"We frequently receive feedback from patients' families on satisfaction surveys about the positive impact the natural environment, beauty, and peacefulness of the surroundings at our hospice care center had on the end-of-life experience for their loved ones," Dunaway said.
A 2017 National Institutes of Health study concluded care facilities should consider ways to improve lines of sight and views of nature for patients; hide medical equipment; and optimize natural light.
The journal Health Environments Research & Design found in 2022 that privacy, communal spaces, access to outdoor spaces and separate locations for grieving families can improve patients' and families’ mental well-being.
The new facility is expected to open in 2026. Of its total $25 million cost, about $18 million is expected to come from public donations and the remaining amount from reserve funds approved by the organization's board of directors.
To date, the Hospice of the Western Reserve has raised $15.7 million in donations.
