Compass Regional Hospice has signed an agreement of sale to purchase an office building at 160 Coursevall Drive in Centreville. This facility, located near the organization’s current administrative headquarters and Hospice Center at 255 Comet Drive, is being purchased to accommodate staff and services that have been added as Compass grows into its role as a regional provider of hospice care and grief support services in Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline Counties.
The support of county government, community businesses and local banks has made this investment possible for Compass Regional Hospice, a non-profit agency that has been serving Queen Anne’s County for more than 30 years.
Wes Shuman, owner of 160 Coursevall Drive, is donating $300,000 of the $1.7 million purchase price to Compass Regional Hospice. Benson and Mangold and local real estate agent Dick Smith have reduced their fees and made other contributions in order to make the transaction more affordable.
Queenstown Bank of Maryland and Shore United Bank are providing short-term financing to Compass Regional Hospice for the real estate purchase. The Queen Anne’s County Commissioners have approved a $300,000 grant from the Economic Development Incentive Fund to assist the hospice agency with the purchase of the new office building.
“For more than 30 years we have depended on the community’s support to ensure that the people of Queen Anne’s County have had the hospice services they need,” says Heather Guerieri, executive director, Compass Regional Hospice. “Since we became a regional hospice provider in 2014 we have more than doubled our staff, currently more than 75, all of whom are headquartered in Centreville. Also, the number of patients we care for has nearly tripled to an average daily census of 75.”
Guerieri adds, “This extraordinary growth requires that we add office space and that we consider how to best meet the needs of the people who live in Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline Counties. We will be able to meet these needs with the continued support of individual donors, government funding and business supporters.”
In 2015 Compass Regional Hospice partnered with the Caroline Hospice Foundation to re-open the Caroline Hospice Home in Denton. “We are now focused on how to expand our presence in Kent County and to ensure that our roots are strong in Queen Anne’s County,” Guerieri says.
Compass Regional Hospice is completing a feasibility study that will determine the community’s readiness to support a capital campaign. This development project will raise funds to pay off the bank loans for the purchase of the Coursevall Drive property. Monies raised through the capital campaign will also be invested in other initiatives, including additional services for the residents of Kent County; renovations to 255 Comet Drive, which will become the headquarters of the Hope & Healing Center; and creation of an unrestricted endowment fund to support the general financial needs of the organization.
Purchase of the Coursevall Drive office building should be completed in July. After minor upgrades are completed administrative staff along with some clinical staff will relocate from 255 Comet Drive to Coursevall Drive later this summer.
The existing building at 255 Comet Drive in Centreville will require renovations so that it can serve as home base for the Hope & Healing Center while continuing to serve as the six-bed residential and general inpatient Hospice Center. These renovations include private and soundproof individual counseling rooms; multi-use conference area for small and large group functions such as support groups, conferences, workshops and group counseling; activity space for children’s workshops and art activities; and space for healing modalities such as yoga, Reiki and massage therapy. Plans are underway to add other grief and loss support to include pet loss, perinatal loss, post-traumatic stress syndrome, and loss experienced by veterans returning from service and members of military families.
Kathy Deoudes, outgoing chair of the Compass Regional Hospice board of directors, says, “I continue to be impressed by the generosity of the community whenever we ask for financial support for our services and programs. The building on Comet Drive was funded by a $3 million capital campaign so that we were debt-free when we opened the doors in 2008. I am confident that our friends and neighbors will respond again when we show them how these new financial investments benefit people of all ages in Queen Anne’s, Kent and Caroline Counties.”
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