Hospice ready to start construction

WASHINGTON - The team at Hospice of Washington County is looking forward to breaking ground for a new building starting this summer.

For almost two and a half years, the team and board of directors have been working to break ground on a new building at the same location, said Katrina Altenhofent, executive director of Hospice of Washington County.

'Our current building has served its purpose. It's been a wonderful site for us to be able to do what we need to do,” Altenhofent said. 'However, we're spending a lot more time on trying to mitigate some of the issues.”

While the brick building located at 948 East 11th St. in Washington may looks appealing, the inside tells a different story.

Altenhofent said the building was built in 1985 for the Department of Transportation (DOT). The almost four acres were purchased in 1997 and Hospice of Washington County moved into the building in 2001.

She said that area of Washington is a flood plain and even with two sump pumps the basement floods every summer.

A variety of mitigation techniques have been attempted including reinforcing the basement walls, drilling holes in the baseboards and tiling around the building, but every summer employees spend time moping and vacuuming water, Altenhofent said.

She said there is too much time being spent cleaning, worrying if a closet is going to flood, or wondering if a wall is going to start crumbling.

Not only is flooding an issue, the hospice has outgrown the building.

It is used as the primary offices for the organization. Altenhofent previously said administrative staff is upstairs and clinical staff is downstairs. When it comes time for staff meetings, 15 employees crowd into a small conference room to work, she said. Hospice of Washington County has a base of about 45 active volunteers who are in and out of the building periodically before COVID-19.

Hospice has been working with McCreedy-Ruth Construction of Riverside to plan the new building. The north portion of the current building containing a garage and storage space will remain. The new section will be built out north, without a basement.

The office space will be similar in size, a new conference room will be larger and the reception area will be more welcoming.

The heating and cooling system is another change Altenhofent is looking forward to. At the current building, one office may be running a heater, and another will have multiple fans running.

The cost estimation has fluctuated throughout the project, but she estimates it will be around $1 million.

In November 2019 the hospice started a fundraising campaign but due to COVID-19 many different donation strategies were stopped. So far Altenhofent said they have raised $533,000 in pledges and of that, $370,000 were cash donations. She said she is thankful to the many people who have provided funding.

'That's awesome for the limited amount of time we've been able to do the campaign,” she said.

The plan is to send invite-only bids by April 1 and break ground in June.

She said they plan on hosting a large celebration, with donors, current and former staff, board members and community members.

When the new building is complete and it is time to demolish the old building, Altenhofent hopes to save some of the old bricks and do an auction.

'You can purchase a brick in memory of someone and put it in a prayer walk,” she said.