The open house commenced with a blessing of the Hospice Center. Compass Regional Hospice staff, board members and volunteers gathered with area clergy, as Elder Sherrie Tilghman, MCMHC, chaplain for Compass Regional Hospice led the blessing.
Tilghman blessed the house and the people who will work and receive care there by saying, “Almighty God, may you strengthen every member of the staff, and every volunteer by your grace. Accept us now as we dedicate this Hospice Center, established for the care of the sick, for service. Give us the patience and gentleness of heart to fullfill our duties, and receive the work of our hands.”
Following the blessing, Compass Regional Hospice celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the Kent County Chamber of Commerce and members of the community were invited to tour the Hospice Center.
“This is an exciting day for Compass Regional Hospice and the residents of Kent County,” said Heather Guerieri, executive director. “Since we started providing hospice care and grief support services here in 2014, it has been a dream of ours to have a hospice center for Kent County patients and their families. With this facility, we can now offer them around-the-clock care that is close to home.”
Compass Regional Hospice renovated the unit transforming it into a comfortable, home-like Hospice Center that can accommodate four patients in private rooms. Compass leases a unit on the third floor of the University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Chestertown from University of Maryland Shore Regional Health.
Guerieri adds, “We are grateful to UM Shore Regional Health for helping us to respond to the end-of-life needs of Kent County patients and their loved ones through facilitating the lease with Compass. We also want to thank the many people of our community who have donated their time, materials and expertise to make it possible for us to transform the unit into the Hospice Center.”
When the Hospice Center opens, Compass Regional Hospice will staff the facility twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and continue providing hospice care in private residences, nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Compass Regional Hospice – Care on your terms
Compass Regional Hospice is a fully licensed, independent, community-based nonprofit organization certified by Medicare and the State of Maryland, and accredited by the Joint Commission. Since 1985, Compass Regional Hospice has been dedicated to supporting people of all ages through the challenge of living with a life-limiting illness and learning to live following the death of a loved one. Today the organization is a regional provider of hospice care and grief support in Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline counties. “Care on your terms” is the promise that guides staff and volunteers as they care for patients in private residences, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and the residential hospice centers in Centreville, Chestertown and Denton. Grief support services are offered to children, adults and families of patients who died under hospice care, as well as members of the community who are grieving the loss of a loved one through The Hope & Healing Center.
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