Hospice home to open in Fergus Falls

Fergus Falls, Minn. (WDAY TV) - Most of us have spent time watching a Hospice team take care of a friend or loved one. In Fergus Falls today, how that compassion will be under one very special roof. One of the first Hospice Houses in our area is about to open there, and it is all about comfort.

In a house that felt more like home today, Fergus Falls came out to welcome the Lakeland Hospice House. For 25-years this hospice has been going into homes, but times have changed. Families are spread across the country.

“You don't have someone there for you to be able to care for you and your options can be limited and so this house will provide another option of care.”

And so people around the region pitched in raising nearly three million dollars to build this 8-bed cozy comfy Hospice Home.

“And to see it today walking in, oh my gosh, this is gorgeous.”

On the tour today, Ginny Paulson thinks back a few years, her husband Bill in Hospice at their home.

“I was almost envious because this would have been something I might have used.”

Windows are everywhere in this house, views of lakes, a feeling of peace and quiet.

“Isn’t it amazing? It doesn't look like an institution, its nothing like a hospital or nursing home.”

And there are not only patient rooms, but rooms for family so they don't have to leave the house. Playrooms for children visiting, an effort to give those dying an option to stay in a place that sure feels like home at a time when comfort and saying goodbye are what families cling to.

The next closest Hospice House is in the St. Cloud area. Room and board at the Hospice House is usually private pay, about 185-dollars a day.