Who We are
The Hospice House is a home designed to welcome terminally ill patients that are in a preferred hospice program with the Hospice Foundation, a place to stay during their final days at no cost. Our home is owned and operated by the Hospice Foundation of the South. We are a Non Profit 501-c-3. Caregivers are in our home 24 hours a day to provide care for the residents. The preferred hospice programs recommend people who, because of circumstances in their lives, need a place to live while living out their final days. Family members are encouraged to visit with their loved ones.
Our home has 3 bedrooms, with each room having its own bathroom and a screened-in porch area. There is a living room for families to congregate. We also have a kitchen and dining room for residents and family members to have a special occasion, or just a dinner together.
Ours is the only home of this type in the community. We are very proud to offer these services to our community.
Our Beginnings
The Hospice Foundation of the South began as a part of Slidell Memorial Hospital Hospice Foundation. In an era of changes the Hospital sold its Home Health and Hospice programs. The Hospice Foundation of the South (HFOS) was born. For many years the HFOS supported hospice programs with indigent patients by paying for hospice care, sitters, funeral assistance, medications, electric bills, and food. All the while still raising money with the hope of one day building a Hospice House.
In late 2008 The HFOS and HOST (Hospice of St. Tammany’s Foundation) joined together as HFOS with both the east and west sides of the parish continuing to support indigent patients and moving forward with the Hospice House.
March 4, 2014 the only Hospice Home in St. Tammany Parish was opened.
The three-bedroom home is owned and operated by the Hospice Foundation of the South. It allows terminally ill hospice patients a place to live out their final days in home setting with family while having the support of their hospice program and our caregivers. Home Instead Senior Care provides the caregivers for the home.
In our first year of being opened we served 32 patients and families in the St. Tammany area. The Hospice Home has been everything the HFOS thought it would be and then more! We are very proud of what we do.
Hospice House Testimonials
Excerpts from a letter of gratitude received from Durward Bernard, whose spouse was a patient.
“The Hospice House management, caregivers, and hospice nurses quickly became like family to us. “
“ The caregivers became Lynne’s new best friends. “
“Beyond the call of duty” comes to mind when I think of how much the caregivers and staff went out of their way to make Lynne and the rest of our family feel at home.”
“The most important thing that helped Rhett and I was that no matter how long we were there during the day, when we got home in Covington, there was a sense of normalcy. We knew that she was being cared for while we were at home. That made an important difference in my son’s life. “
“Now that my wife has passed away, I reflect on my time at the Hospice House and think of all of the good things that happened there.”
“ Lynne and I probably became closer during those months than ever before. “
Words of support from Susan Orser, RN with St. Tammany Hospital Hospice.
“Hospice House is truly a blessing for families that are unable to
care for their loved ones at home no matter what the circumstance”
“If there is room available, no one is turned away from this
safe haven.”
“Since I have been caring for patients at Hospice House, I am
continually moved by the supportive atmosphere at this wonderful sanctuary:
families coming together to comfort each other in a way that only they would
understand; caregivers dedicated to providing not only personal care but
also emotional support to those approaching the end of life; and then there
are the patients themselves...spending their final days receiving care in a
homelike, tranquil atmosphere surrounded by friends and family.”
Donate today
Donate to support the best possible end of life care in St. Tammany Parish.