New
center in New Hartford to house hospice patients
May 29, 2003
By
MATTHEW RODRIGUEZ
Observer-Dispatch
Fund-raising
for a new $1.7 million center that will provide housing
for terminally ill patients is underway at Hospice &
Palliative Care Inc. in New Hartford, Executive Director
Pi T. Gentile said Wednesday.
The
Siegenthaler Center, designed by Fuligni-Fragola Architects
of Utica, is named for the late Jacqueline Siegenthaler,
whose husband Dean D. Siegenthaler donated $500,000
to jump start the project.
Dean
Siegenthaler, an Oneida Castle resident, said his wife
passed away May 24, 2002 from pancreatic cancer while
at the Oneida Healthcare Center.
"She
didn't get the opportunity to go home," he said.
Siegenthaler
said hospice visited his wife and him when she was in
the hospital, and they discussed what would happen if
she got out.
He
said he knew he could not give her the care she needed
at home and wondered if hospice could have a center
of its own.
At
the recommendation of friends, he began talking to people
at Hospice Care last June and made the donation in late
2002, Siegenthaler said.
The
Siegenthaler Center would approximately double the size
of the Hospice & Palliative Care building on Middle
Settlement Road and provide an alternative to nursing
homes and hospitals, board President David L. May said.
"Each
of the suites is going to be set up like a small apartment,"
May said. "With that sofa/bed arrangement, family
members can come and stay as well."
For
the next two years, the Hospice & Palliative Care
team plans to conduct a fund-raising campaign to acquire
money for the center.
Siegenthaler
said he hopes to be able to break ground for the center
by early 2004, with completion of the project in late
2004.
Hospice
& Palliative Care offers services to about 60 patients
in their homes. The new facility would house four patients
and feature family rooms, a kitchen and a room for meditation
and counseling.
Hospice
typically provides a service for those with less than
six months to live. The business also offers palliative
care for patients with life-limiting illnesses, Gentile
said.
"Hospice
is a wonderful organization," Siegenthaler said.
"It's like my family now."
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