Workers broke ground on a new hospice center in Missoula Tuesday. Organizers say the facility will help meet demand for end-of-life care in an aging Montana.
Partners Hope Foundation board members tossed golden shovelfuls of dirt to cheers from supporters of the new hospice center. The $15 million facility will house up to a dozen patients and their families navigating the end of life.
Board member Dan Dixon served as a hospice chaplain in Missoula for more than a decade. He said before the ceremony that at-home hospice care isn’t always possible for patients.
“I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve heard people say, ‘Oh, it’s nice to be able to just be the daughter, and not be the caregiver. I can come sit by mom’s side and hold her hand,’” Dixon said.
The last inpatient hospice center in western Montana closed in Missoula more than two decades ago. Today, Montana has the sixth-highest percentage of residents 65 and older in the nation. Partners Hope Foundation says it expects to serve 3,000 patients in the facility’s first five years of operation.
Missoula resident Mary Morrison joined the board after her 38-year-old stepdaughter Lila passed away in a hospital nearly two years ago, too sick for at-home hospice care. Morrison says hospice isn’t just for older people.
“The function of a hospital is to keep someone alive, and Lila was dying,” Morrison said. “And, the function of this is to celebrate life to the very end, and to do it on her terms.”
The nonprofit center’s construction is being funded solely by donations. Organizers say they still have $2.5 million to raise to sustain the facility after its expected opening in 2025.
