Peaceful. Comfortable. A lot less stressful than the hospital. That's how Sharon Campen described her husband's last days before he died. Mark Davison spent a week in Duke's inpatient hospice facility in Hillsborough as staff managed his pain medication in June 2005, then went home for his final days. Campen described inpatient hospice as "an amazing opportunity to escort your family member to that next peaceful place."
Until now, the inpatient hospice in northern Orange County was Duke's only inpatient hospice facility available in the Triangle. The new Duke Hospice & Palliative Care Center is under construction in northern Durham on Roxboro Road next to the Teer House.
Earlier this month as rain drizzled on the red clay outside, hard-hatted men worked inside among steel, wood and brick as the project progressed. It should be finished by January and open to the first patient Feb. 1. When completed, the 15,100-square-foot facility will have 12 private patient rooms with bathrooms as well as a spa, children's playroom, family counseling room, formal and casual living rooms, a dining room and a meditation room. The result, said Duke HomeCare & Hospice executive director Starr Browning, is a place that will offer a homelike environment for a person's final days. Her own father used hospice care before he passed away earlier this year.
Walking into the new facility, Browning said, should feel like walking into your own home rather than an institutional place. "It's for the patient, but for the family as well," she said. "It's about meeting the needs of the individual in their final days." That might mean getting a patient a glass of milk in the middle of the night, she said. It might mean a patient gets her hair done in the building's spa room. It might mean rolling a patient's bed onto the patio to look at the garden outside. It might even mean hosting a wedding at the facility, which has happened multiple times at the Duke Hospice Inpatient Care Facility at the Meadowlands in Hillsborough.
The Meadowlands, which has six patient beds and is located on 11 acres of a former farm, will remain open. Regina Mitchell is a volunteer there and plans to volunteer at the Durham hospice as well. Volunteers do everything from filling bird feeders to answering phones to being a listening ear.
"Patients and families need someone to talk to," Mitchell said. "I find that the best way is to just let them talk. Sometimes they just need a caring presence."
Campen's husband Davison was 39 when he died from cancer. Campen said his treatment at Duke hospitals was excellent, but when treatment was no longer an option, he spent about five days at the Hillsborough inpatient hospice to get a handle on his pain management.
"Mark asked me to please not let him die in the hospital," she said. After his time at the inpatient facility, hospice was still available by phone whenever she had a question, she said. Hospice also provides bereavement counselors, nurses, social workers, chaplains and nursing assistants to help the terminally ill and their families.
Campen said hospice had a different feel than care at the hospital. "Before, at the cancer center, energy was focused on keeping Mark alive. Hospice is accepting of the fact that the end of life was coming. It was a huge relief and a comfort to be with people not afraid of death. ... The comfort and care was magical," she said. Hospice nurses gave her peace of mind, she said, and a sense of control. When she was calm, her husband was more calm.
Carol Ann Mullis, program manager for Duke HomeCare & Hospice, said they encourage families to spend the night at inpatient hospice facilities. "It's patient/family centric. We build their care around their needs," she said.
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