‘Community built.’ Work starts to replace 25-year-old Tri-Cities hospice house

Twenty-five years after the community came together to build the Tri-Cities’ first hospice house, plans are being made to build a new one.

An architectural evaluation of the 10-bed facility built on Entiat Avenue in Kennewick concluded that the needed retrofitting of the boiler and HVAC system would cost about $3 million.

But for an estimated $5 million a new building could be built.

Chaplaincy Health Care, a nonprofit agency providing hospice care for the Tri-Cities area, opted for a new building after considering both costs and the need to interrupt hospice services for nine months to a year if the remodeling was done.

It has purchased 2.6 acres from the Port of Kennewick in south Richland’s Spaulding Park between Columbia Park Trail and Fowler Street.

“We’re looking forward to having this new capability because it is going to give us some assurance for the next 30 years and potentially longer as the community grows,”said Bob Rosselli, interim executive director of Chaplaincy Health Care.

Hospice care, whether provided by the Chaplaincy in home or at its hospice house, provides care that emphasizes comfort rather than a cure for patients who are nearing death.

Work to prepare for the new hospice center started about two years ago, but then was halted last May due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rosselli said.

Work is restarting now with a boost from $900,000 allocated by the Washington state Legislature, an effort led by Sen. Sharon Brown, R-Kennewick, in the session just ended.

With $200,000 from the Legislature last year and some additional money already in hand, Chaplaincy Health Care has $1.6 million for the project.

Now through July or August Chaplaincy Health Care will be approaching corporate and other large donors and then will launch a public fundraising campaign.

Hospice construction plans

Chaplaincy Health Care’s goal is to have the full $5 million raised to break ground in December of January 2022. Construction could be completed at the end of October 2022 and the center could be serving patients at the start of 2023.

“We want to continue with the tradition of having something built by this community for this community,” Rosselli said.

The original hospice house in Kennewick was built mostly with volunteer labor, including many skilled craft workers from Tri-Cities area labor unions. This time around Chaplaincy Health Care has hired help. The decision was made in part because of changes in state requirements.

But there will be opportunities for those who want to volunteer, possibly with parts of the project such as landscaping or fencing, Rosselli said.

ALSC Architects of Spokane will design the facility, with Strategic Construction Management in Pasco providing construction management and Bouten Construction Co. in Richland serving as the builder.

The new hospice center will be similar to the current one, with space for 10 patients to receive end-of-life care.

The hospice house’s 10 patient rooms are adequate to serve the community. On average before the pandemic, six beds were used, but on some days all 10 beds were needed.

The new location has room for the program to grow, with enough space to build an addition with another 10 beds, when needed, and ample parking.

Its features will be similar to the existing hospice center, but it will have a nurses station that has a line of sight to all rooms and more storage, Rosselli said.

Like the current facility, it will have a living area for families, a play area for children, a kitchen and a chapel that will be larger than the current one.

Chaplaincy Health Care has talked to other nonprofits to see if the existing hospice house would fit their needs once the new one is built. It is working with First Lutheran Church, which owns the land where the hospice house was built 25 years ago.

So far there has not been interest from other nonprofits, but Chaplaincy Health Care plans to move some office activities into a separate wing of the hospice house soon.

The space will be available as it is closing its behavioral health program at the end of this month to focus on its core programs of hospice, chaplain services and support for grieving children and adults.