(June 1, 2017) The new Coastal Hospice at the Ocean facility in Ocean Pines is being classified – and treated – as a business, according to President Alane Capen.
Capen and Coastal Hospice Director of Development Maureen McNeill attended an Ocean Pines Board meeting on Saturday to give an update on the project and ask the directors to consider somehow reducing the $26,000 annual fee they would have to pay under the current classification.
According to Capen, Coastal Hospice purchased the property at 1500 Ocean Parkway in Ocean Pines to build the new hospice residence and outreach center. She said the main floor would have a dozen patient resident rooms as well as an area for families.
The lower level would house Coastal Hospice staff, which cares for patients in Worcester and Somerset counties, and the upstairs would have a palliative care consulting area.
Coastal Hospice is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
“Hospices do not receive any room and board from any government or insurance agency – there’s no one who pays us room and board,” she said. “Our plan is to have a sliding scale, so that people of lesser means are able to afford to live there.”
She said the Coastal Hospice Thrift Shop on 10445 Old Ocean City Road in Berlin supports the activities of the nonprofit. Two annual fundraisers also help pay for room and board “for patients who need a safe place to live,” Capen said.
She described a prospective patient as an 80-year-old with an 85-year-old caregiver.
“Or they are the widow or widower who has moved down here to retire and their families are elsewhere,” she said. “They are not able to safely able to get back and forth to the bathroom. They are no longer safely able to make their own meals. And they don’t have family members who can support them.
“That is what this building is … to take care of those folks who are the most vulnerable, near the ends of their life,” Capen added.
Capen said Coastal Hospice is working on a state certification to allow 12 beds. The original plan was for eight. She estimated that would take about six months and a groundbreaking could be held in five months.
Construction would likely take another eight months, Capen said.
“About 14 months from now – maybe as much as 16 – we expect to be having our first residents move in,” she said.
Capen said she was “a bit surprised” to find out the homeowner’s association fee would be so high. She said Ocean Pines classified the facility as commercial and asked if that could be changed to residential.
“We feel that that would be more fair,” she said. “We are not a for-profit entity. This is different than operating a restaurant or a bar. We actually expect to lose money on this building every year.”
Board President Tom Herrick said the directors would take that under consideration.
Capen and Coastal Hospice Director of Development Maureen McNeill attended an Ocean Pines Board meeting on Saturday to give an update on the project and ask the directors to consider somehow reducing the $26,000 annual fee they would have to pay under the current classification.
According to Capen, Coastal Hospice purchased the property at 1500 Ocean Parkway in Ocean Pines to build the new hospice residence and outreach center. She said the main floor would have a dozen patient resident rooms as well as an area for families.
The lower level would house Coastal Hospice staff, which cares for patients in Worcester and Somerset counties, and the upstairs would have a palliative care consulting area.
Coastal Hospice is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
“Hospices do not receive any room and board from any government or insurance agency – there’s no one who pays us room and board,” she said. “Our plan is to have a sliding scale, so that people of lesser means are able to afford to live there.”
She said the Coastal Hospice Thrift Shop on 10445 Old Ocean City Road in Berlin supports the activities of the nonprofit. Two annual fundraisers also help pay for room and board “for patients who need a safe place to live,” Capen said.
She described a prospective patient as an 80-year-old with an 85-year-old caregiver.
“Or they are the widow or widower who has moved down here to retire and their families are elsewhere,” she said. “They are not able to safely able to get back and forth to the bathroom. They are no longer safely able to make their own meals. And they don’t have family members who can support them.
“That is what this building is … to take care of those folks who are the most vulnerable, near the ends of their life,” Capen added.
Capen said Coastal Hospice is working on a state certification to allow 12 beds. The original plan was for eight. She estimated that would take about six months and a groundbreaking could be held in five months.
Construction would likely take another eight months, Capen said.
“About 14 months from now – maybe as much as 16 – we expect to be having our first residents move in,” she said.
Capen said she was “a bit surprised” to find out the homeowner’s association fee would be so high. She said Ocean Pines classified the facility as commercial and asked if that could be changed to residential.
“We feel that that would be more fair,” she said. “We are not a for-profit entity. This is different than operating a restaurant or a bar. We actually expect to lose money on this building every year.”
Board President Tom Herrick said the directors would take that under consideration.