The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

hospice house*

My Turn: Learn about hospice and palliative care

By Dr. Stephanie Patel

November is National Hospice Palliative Care Month, a time to raise awareness about the specialized care that hospice and palliative care provide to patients and their families. Both focus on the patient’s needs, expert care, comfort, and quality of life.

Did you know that hospice isn’t just for the final days of life? As former President Jimmy Carter has shown us, hospice can provide many months of comfort and support, helping patients and families navigate the end stages of illness with dignity and care.

Hospice also supports families and caregivers, providing counseling, respite care, and resources to help them during this challenging time when a cure may no longer be possible. Palliative care focuses on relieving symptoms and stress of serious illness, can be provided at any age and any stage of the illness, and is available while receiving curative treatment.

Since 1978, Care Dimensions has been a driving force in expanding access to serious illness care through hospice and palliative care. As the largest hospice in Massachusetts, Care Dimensions provides care for patients wherever they call “home”—private residences, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, hospitals, group homes, and our hospice houses in Danvers and Lincoln.

If you or your loved one is facing a serious illness, do not hesitate to find out how hospice or palliative care can help. The sooner you get the care you need, the sooner you can benefit from an improved quality of life.

Patel is president and CEO of Care Dimensions.

“My Turn” is a forum for readers to offer their letters to the editor or views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Eagle Scout builds birdhouses for hospice house

Nancy Zheng, Care Dimensions Hospice House clinical director, and Richard Kelleher with one of the birdhouses he built and installed on a patio post outside a patient room.

Patients, visitors and staff at the Care Dimensions Hospice House on Winter Street should soon see some new winged wildlife thanks to Lincoln Boy Scout Richard Kelleher.

For his Eagle Scout project, Richard (a sophomore at Lawrence Academy in Groton) built and installed five birdhouses on the property. With help from other Scouts, Richard developed the project in memory of his grandmother, Nancy Dickinson, who passed away at the Care Dimensions Hospice House in 2019.

“She was very into nature, and we saw a lot of birds around when we visited her” at the hospice house, said Richard, adding that she had a bird book on her bedside table. “So I thought building and donating birdhouses for the hospice house would be perfect.”

“It’s a wonderful memorial for his grandmother and an attraction for patients, their families and our employees to enjoy the birds on the property,” said Nancy Zheng, Care Dimensions Hospice House clinical director. “We’re grateful for Richard’s thoughtful donation.”

Lincoln hospice house wins several awards

The Care Dimensions Hospice house in Lincoln.

The Care Dimensions Hospice House in Lincoln has won four awards for excellence in architecture, interior design, and construction.

The 18-bed facility, which opened in April 2018, is located on Winter Street at the Waltham town line. The 27,600-square-foot inpatient hospice house offers hospital-level care for hospice patients requiring 24/7 medical care for acute pain and symptom management. An interdisciplinary team provided medical, emotional, and spiritual care to 460 patients and their families in the hospice house’s first year of operation.

At its 2019 Designer Awards, the International Furnishings & Design Association’s New England chapter honored Beverly-based SV Design in the Commercial Healthcare category for its work on the interior design of the hospice house. SV Design’s visions was a relaxed residence that could accommodate a range of needs, with a focus on the emotional and practical needs of its patients and their families, that echoed the natural surroundings that are integral to the facility’s environmental mood and aesthetic.

In its 27th annual Excellence in Construction Awards, the Massachusetts chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) recognized Windover Construction of Beverly, Mass., with its Merit Award, which recognizes overall excellence in project execution, craftsmanship, safety, innovative elements and challenges, and client satisfaction

In its 2019 Design for Aging Review, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) cited EGA, a Newburyport-based architectural design and planning firm, for successfully achieving a balance between a home-like environment and the highest quality of clinical elements in the facility’s design.

The hospice house solarium.

A patient’s room with an exit to a patio overlooking the Cambridge reservoir.

In its sixth annual Senior Housing News (SHN) Architecture & Design Awards, SHN, an Aging Media Network Publication, awarded second place to the Care Dimensions Hospice House in its 2019 Hospice category. More than 100 residential senior communities across the country and globe submitted new construction and renovation projects for commendation, vying for top honors across SHN’s nine individual award categories.

Hospice house in Lincoln welcomes first patients

Care Dimensions President and CEO Patricia Ahern (center), surrounded by board members and senior management staff, officially opens the new hospice house in Lincoln.

(Full disclosure: Lincoln Squirrel editor Alice Waugh is a volunteer at the Lincoln hospice house.)

Patients are starting to fill the newly opened Care Dimensions Hospice House in Lincoln after it opened its doors at 125 Winter St. last week.

The project was approved in fall 2014 and broke ground two years later. Last month before the arrival of patients, the company hosted an open house for staff and volunteers to tour the 18-bed facility, which serves terminally ill individuals needing hospital-level care for pain and symptom management. Although the building is in Lincoln, vehicles use a driveway located just over the town line in Waltham.

“The Hospice House is not a hospital, nursing home or rehabilitation facility, but a home-like setting where hospice physicians, nurses and support staff provide 24-hour care and where visiting family members can spend quality time, including overnight stays, with their loved one,” explained Patricia Ahern, CEO and president of Care Dimensions. The nursing staff includes four hospice nurses who recently graduated from Care Dimensions’ hospice nurse residency program, which provides intensive training to nurses who are new to hospice and palliative care.

In addition to services from medical personnel, social workers and chaplains, Care Dimensions offers complementary therapies including massage, music and art therapy, Reiki, compassionate touch and pet therapy, as well as bereavement counseling for up to 13 months after the death of any hospice patient—even if that person was not a Care Dimensions patient.

The new facility includes sleeping couches in every patient room, two visitor kitchens and cafe areas, a fish tank, children’s play areas, fireplaces, patios off some patient rooms, a contemplation chapel, and a solarium. There are also personal touches such as afghans and prayer squares knitted by volunteers that patients and families may keep.

For the wider community, the hospice house has a conference room with new multimedia equipment that’s open for use to any nonprofit organization. The building also features artwork loaned by the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum. This page has more information and a video tour of the Lincoln facility. Click here to learn about volunteering there, or with hospice patients in their homes or other facilities.

Photos of the Lincoln hospice house (click an image to enlarge):

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hospice-solarium
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Lincoln hospice house to feature art from deCordova

Left to right: deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum Executive Director John Ravenal, Care Dimensions President Patricia Ahern, Care Dimensions board member Ellen Smith, and deCordova Director of Corporate Relations and Art Loan Program Sharon Glennon.

The Care Dimensions inpatient hospice house slated to open in Lincoln in February will feature artworks on loan from the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.

“In choosing design elements for the interior of the new house, we saw a need to enlist help when it came to selecting just the right artwork for our gathering spaces,” said Mary Simboski, vice president of philanthropy at Care Dimensions. “We immediately thought of the deCordova. They have an incredible reputation of inspiring and enriching their visitors, and we are thrilled to partner with them through their Art Loan program.”

Unique to deCordova, the Art Loan Program is a membership benefit that provides area businesses and organizations the opportunity to exhibit artwork of both established and emerging contemporary New England artists in their spaces. Staff from the deCordova will work closely with Care Dimensions to assess artwork needs, determine appropriate exhibition locations, and make curatorial recommendations for exhibition content. The original artworks available for loan are from deCordova’s extensive permanent collection and are augmented by the artwork of lending artists.

“We’re grateful to the talented deCordova staff for providing pieces that blend in with the feel and surroundings of the facility, all the while accomplishing the goal of giving our patients and their loved ones visual arts that are soothing, contemplative and inspiring,” said Care Dimensions board member Ellen Smith.

Hospice facility on track to open this winter

The Care Dimensions Hospice House on Winter Street in Lincoln and Waltham. (Photo by Alice Waugh)

The Care Dimensions hospice facility on Winter Street is running a bit behind but is expected to open to patients in early 2018.

Construction started in late summer 2016 on the 18-bed, 27,500-square-foot inpatient hospice facility will provide a home-like setting for terminally ill patients who need hospital-level care for pain and symptom management where hospice physicians, nurses and support staff can provide 24-hour care. Work is expected to finish next month, followed by permitting and Department of Public Health certification.

“We haven’t had an deviation or changes” from the project schedule aside from minor delays, said Jean Graham, senior director of marketing. “Everything’s gone along exactly as planned.”

The company’s original proposal was for 42,000-square-foot with 20 beds but was scaled back after objections from neighbors. To shrink the footprint, much of the building plan went from one floor to two, and some of the patient rooms on the second floor will have walk-out patios overlooking Winter Street, Graham said. Each floor will have a dining and kitchen area for families, and the grounds will feature a remembrance/healing garden.

The facility is using a construction entrance on the Lincoln side of the town line, but once it opens, the primary entrance will be in Waltham with the Lincoln entrance used only for emergencies.

Care Dimensions is in the process of hiring and training staff for the new facility and is also recruiting volunteers for things like patient visits (especially with pets), working at the reception desk, operating a snack cart, flower arranging, etc. For more information, see the company’s volunteer web page or call 888-283-1722.

A pair of ground-breaking occasions

Town officials and others recently donned hardhats and wielded shovels at two different Lincoln sites: the First Parish Church, which is doing interior renovations, and Care Dimensions’ new Greater Boston Hospice House on Winter Street. (Never mind that construction activity had already begun in both places—it’s the thought that counts.)

The hospice facility, slated for completion by November 2017, will feature 18 private patient suites including two pediatric suites for terminally ill patients and their families. Last year, Care Dimensions, which also operates the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers, cared for more than 1,300 patients living within 15 miles of the Lincoln site.

Work at the church is expected to be complete by June 1, 2017.

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The Building Committee of the First Parish in Lincoln celebrates the groundbreaking of the renovation project for the church at 4 Bedford Road. Left to right: Doug Detweiler, Ken Bassett, Mary Helen Lorenz, Ken Hurd, Peter Sugar and Barbara Sampson. (Photo courtesy Kathy Harvey-Ellis)

Photos by Mike Dean www.mikedeanphotos.com

Representatives from the town of Lincoln along with Care Dimensions president and board members at the September 27 groundbreaking ceremony for the new Greater Boston Hospice House. Left to right: Selectman Peter Braun, Town Administrator Tim Higgins, Zoning Board of Appeals Chair Joel Freedman, Care Dimensions President Diane Stringer, and Phil Cormier, Vice Chair of the Care Dimensions Board of Directors. (Photo by Mike Dean)

Winter Street hospice construction underway

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Artist’s rendering of the completed hospice facility.

Construction has started on the Greater Boston Hospice House at 125 Winter St. on the Lincoln/Waltham town line, with an opening expected in fall 2017.

The 18-bed, 27,500-square-foot inpatient hospice facility will provide a home-like setting for terminally ill patients who need hospital-level care for pain and symptom management where hospice physicians, nurses and support staff can provide 24-hour care.

“While the majority of hospice patients spend their final weeks in their own homes, a growing number have care needs that are simply too complex to be managed at home,” said Care Dimensions President and CEO Diane Stringer.

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The hospice entrance as seen from the Lincoln/Waltham town line on Winter Street at the end of the white stripe (click any image to enlarge).

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The Waltham side of the hospice construction site looking southwest.

Care Dimensions of Danvers originally proposed a 42,400-square-foot facility straddling the Lincoln/Waltham town line but scaled it back after residents and town officials said it was too big. The nonprofit company later submitted a scaled-down plan with 64 parking spots rather than the original 89.

Access to the facility will be from a new driveway on the Waltham side of the property where Winter Street is two-way. The Lincoln side of the property, where Winter Street becomes one-way heading into Lincoln, would have a gated emergency entrance that be opened only by Lincoln emergency vehicles. It’s currently being used as a second construction entrance.

Joint meeting on hospice this Thursday

Colored Site Plan .pdf

A sketch of the latest site plan for the Care Dimensions hospice facility (click to enlarge).

Two Lincoln land-use groups will continue their review of a proposal for an 18-bed hospice facility on Winter Street at a joint meeting on Thursday, Sept. 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Office Building.

Care Dimensions of Danvers originally proposed a 42,400-square-foot facility straddling the Lincoln/Waltham town line but scaled it back last spring after residents and town officials said it was too big (see the Lincoln Squirrel, March 26, 2014). The nonprofit company later submitted a scaled-down 27,600-square-foot plan with 64 parking spots rather than the original 89. On Thursday, the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning Board will hear the latest information, including a report from a peer review consultant who has been reviewing drainage plans and other engineering issues.

The Planning Board will continue its public hearing on Tuesday, Sept. 23 to review lighting and landscaping and “clean up any other site details,” said Director of Planning and Land Use Chris Reilly. The ZBA will probably close its hearing on October 2 and may vote on the proposal that night.

Hospice decision not expected until fall

The most recent proposal for a hospice facility on Winter Street at the Waltham town line.

The most recent proposal for a hospice facility on Winter Street at the Waltham town line.

By Alice Waugh

A consultant for the Zoning Board of Appeals is reviewing revised technical plans submitted by Care Dimensions, which wants to build an inpatient hospice facility on Winter Street, and will most likely report to the ZBA at is July 10 meeting.

[Read more…] about Hospice decision not expected until fall