Building and Strengthening Care to Meet Growing Needs

Kids Path program focuses on the needs of young patients and their families.

To promote improved end-of-life and palliative care, The Duke Endowment has awarded more than $9.3 million since 2000 to help build inpatient and residential hospice facilities and develop palliative care programs.

Challenge

As more people in the Carolinas grow older and live longer, the need for medical services tailored to the final years of life increases. When achieving a cure is not always possible, managing chronic conditions and controlling pain through palliative care is an alternative. When sustaining life is not a long-term possibility, hospice care helps patients live their final days as comfortably and peacefully as possible.

Growing Demand for Hospice and Palliative Care Programs

Increasingly, palliative care serves as a link between the curative medical treatments of hospitals and the comforting hospice care provided in homes, hospitals and residential facilities. Palliative and hospice care aim to support both patients and their families as they navigate difficult end-of-life decisions, focusing on caring for the whole person, rather than only medical needs. These programs offer specialized services that provide support and compassionate care to address issues faced by patients and families.

Despite the growing demand for palliative care programs and hospice facilities, hospitals and other organizations face challenges to support, expand and sustain these programs.

Find national statistics and trends on the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization website.

Response

Through its interest in hospice and palliative care, The Duke Endowment seeks to provide greater access in the Carolinas to quality end of life care for all who need it.

Since 2000, the Endowment has awarded multiple grants to expand end of life services in the Carolinas.

Developing Palliative Care Programs

Endowment grants have supported staffing, training and additional resources to develop, strengthen and expand palliative care programs in dozens of Carolina communities. Recent grants include:

• $75,000 to Hospice of Henderson County in Flat Rock, N.C., to establish a palliative care program.
• $150,000 to Loris Healthcare System in Loris, S.C., to establish a palliative care program in Horry County, South Carolina.
• $58,500 to Pitt County Memorial Hospital in Greenville, N.C., to implement an inpatient palliative care program.

Establishing Hospice Centers

• $150,000 to Carolina Community Care in Rock Hill, S.C., to construct a 16-bed hospice house.
• $150,000 to Haywood Regional Medical Center in Clyde, N.C., to build a hospice facility in Haywood County.
• $150,000 to Hospice of Iredell County in Statesville, N.C., to establish a nine-bed inpatient/residential hospice house for Iredell County.

Participating Sites

View a list of participating sites in North Carolina and South Carolina.

Contact Us

Mary L. Piepenbring
Vice President
704.969.2131