Hospice celebrates demolition day

From left, Hospice Senior Staff Member Jina Witthoft, Hospice Executive Director Katrina Altenhofen, her husband Mike Altenhofen and grandson Lane Altenhofen watch as crews tear down the building they've lobbied to replace since 2017. (Kalen McCain/The Union)

Hospice of Washington County Executive Director Katrina Altenhofen celebrates from the cab of an excavator after punching the first hole in roof of the former hospice building. (Kalen McCain/The Union)

Brendan DeLong knocks down the outside walls to the former hospice office, which was plagued by basement flooding. (Kalen McCain/The Union)

Jina Witthoft, who has worked at Hospice of Washington County for 20 years, and Katrina Altenhofen, who led the charge to replace the aging hospice building, have their eyes glued to the demolition they've awaited for years. (Kalen McCain/The Union)

WASHINGTON — With the push of a button on Monday morning, Hospice of Washington County Executive Director Katrina Altenhofen tore into the roof of the organization’s former building with the claw of an excavator.

The opening blow of the building’s demolition marked a day long awaited by the organization, which has won grants, held fundraisers and taken state aid along the $1.3 million, five-year journey to replace its flood-prone office space.

“We kept saying, ‘Yep, we’re doing it,’ but for it to really, truly be happening, it’s wonderful,” Altenhofen said. “It was surreal to be able to pull that bucket up and take the first hit.”

The demolition is the last phase of the project first pitched in 2017. Altenhofen said the group planned to have everything ready for an open house by the end of July.

Fundraising for the new building came from various sources, including $400,000 from the Riverboat Foundation, community fundraising events, and — perhaps most unusually — a sizable portion from the Department of Agriculture, as an incentive for water and soil quality improvements.

“It’s a water quality initiative grant, Washington County has never had anything like this,” Altenhofen said. “Where the old building was will be a major bioretention cell, and with our parking lot, the intent is none of our water from our building or our driveways can go straight to the street, but to that bioretention cell … for all of this land that’s being disturbed, the intent is to mix the topsoil with compost to give it a richer soil.”

With most of the project paid for, Altenhofen said the group had just $110,000 to go, with a few fundraising options in mind.

“What’s that’s taken care of, this whole $1.3 million project will have been completely supported by donations and community members,” she said. “(We) will not have to utilize any type of loans for it … We will reach back out to individuals again to see if they’d like to donate. The other thing we’re going to do is, once the landscaping is up and running, if anybody would like to donate dollars for a tree in memory of someone, we’ll put those on the property as well.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com