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November 8, 2009

Hospice to hold groundbreaking for new facility

By CASEY RYAN VOCK

PLATTSBURGH — Hospice of the North Country will hold a groundbreaking ceremony at 1 p.m. today to celebrate the start of construction on the organization's new administrative facility.

The nonprofit organization, which provides care for people in Clinton and Northern Franklin counties with life-limiting illness in the comfort of their own home or chosen setting, has operated for about 18 years in the North Country but has never occupied a building of its own. Instead it leased or rented office space as needed.

"We won't be faced with moving from space to space every three to five years," CEO Kent Brooks said. "This is going to provide us with stability. We know this will be a permanent home for us to work from."

Brooks and his staff shopped around Clinton County to find an existing building that would fit the organization's requirements. However, Brooks found locations with either too much building space or parking lots that were too small.

"There just didn't seem to be anything out there that met our needs. It will be nice to build something that will suit our needs more accurately."

Brooks is excited to see the creation of a customized building, one that he plans will be bright, spacious and will boost employee morale.

"Our staff interacts with people who are ill and dying on a daily basis," Brooks said. "It is important that they have a refuge from that when they come back to the office."

Hospice, which provided end-of-life care to 233 patients and their loved ones in 2008, occupies a satellite office in Malone that was donated by Alice Hyde Medical Center.

The new location will serve as an administrative facility and will house staff members who care for patients in the Plattsburgh area.

Brooks expects the 3,500-square-foot facility at 346 Tom Miller Road will be completed in three to six months.

And, thanks to the generosity of many community members, the financial burden on Hospice has been reduced.

"A lot of local businesses, suppliers and tradesmen have been donating their services or products or have been selling to us at a reduced cost," Brooks said. "We do expect to end up with some kind of mortgage. If we can get the debt reduced, we can concentrate more of our financial resources on our patients."

Hospice staff members have been working daily to minimize the financial impact of the building's construction on the organization's budget.

"The ultimate goal is to put up a facility at no cost to (Hospice) whatsoever," Brooks said. "If the public stepped up, we could do it that way."

Plattsburgh City Mayor Donald Kasprzak, who Brooks said sold the plot of land to Hospice at half of fair market value, will attend the groundbreaking ceremony.

Hospice has also not had to pay any costs for appraisals, engineering or architectural work.

"All of those services have been donated to us in kind," Brooks said. "We are going to acknowledge those people who let us get this project off the ground and use (the ceremony) as a springboard to let others in the community know how they can get involved."

By establishing a permanent location that is visible, Brooks hopes Hospice of the North Country will become more recognized in the community.

"We want to involve the community members as much as they would like to get involved," Brooks said. "We are here to serve the community, and they really help us to go above and beyond on a daily basis."

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