If all goes to plan, next year Voorhees Township will be home to the area’s first freestanding inpatient hospice with the recently announced Samaritan Center at Voorhees.
The freestanding hospice will be yet another branch of Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice, the Marlton headquartered not-for-profit hospice organization, which will now have a permanent center in Voorhees for patients and families facing a level of illness that home health aides cannot properly treat in a patient’s home.
According to Samaritan public relations manager Carol Paprocki, while most people faced with a serious illness would like to be in the comfort of their own home, the idea of having a place where hospice care could be provided 24 hours a day is often mentioned by patients’ families when first inquiring with Samaritan about care.
“They also want to know if my loved one is alone at home what happens if the pain symptoms are such that it requires that higher level of care and is there a place that can provide that,” Paprocki said. “When people call for hospices, that is a question they do ask.”
Paprocki said Samaritan chose Voorhees for the new center after researching several properties over the last several years and decided upon the final location off Route 73 because it offered a secluded setting in the woods, as well as quick access to the area’s major highways, with five acute-care hospitals all within a 10-mile radius.
“We have five counties that we serve and it’s not always convenient for people from parts of Atlantic, Camden or Gloucester to travel up to Mt Holly (Samaritan’s hospice center at Virtua Memorial Hospital) so we wanted something that would be more accessible,” Paprocki said.
Paprocki said The Samaritan Center at Voorhees, once completed, will feature 18 beds in separate, private rooms, grouped in three wings with the projected ability to serve 1,100 patients annually.
In addition, each room will have a private bathroom, a pullout bed for relatives, a place to put mementos and a private conversation alcove for family members, and each room will be within view of soothing gardens.
The center at large will feature a common area living room and eat-in kitchen, an area for children where families can gather if needed as well as a main office for Samaritan’s physician group, Palliative Medical Partners.
Also included will be a meditation chapel, counseling rooms and conference spaces for the emotional needs of patients, families and visitors.
“With hospice care, we are caring not only for the patient but also for the families as well, and we view that care as helping people meet the physical needs of the illness but the spiritual and psychological needs as well,” Paprocki said.
Paprocki said the township as a whole will also benefit from a 98-seat auditorium to be included at the center apart from patient wings, which in addition to Samaritan services, will also be used be community events.
As a not-for-profit organization with a charitable mission, Paprocki said Samaritan accepts payment for some services from Medicaid, Medicare and medical insurance, but provides uncompensated care and has never turned away a patient that met hospice requirements.
In that regard, Paprocki said The Samaritan Center at Voorhees would be completed through financing, Samaritan’s reserves and through a capital campaign, with $200,000 having already been raised by the Samaritan board, leadership team, management and employees.
“They helped raise the first part of the campaign because we do want to be able to say to the community that our managers and staff support the project,” Paprocki said.
Overall, Paprocki said she believed the center would be a groundbreaking event in more ways than one.
“It is going to be the first freestanding hospice in the area, and it really is going to be a place of compassion and support for our community,” Paprocki said.
