Funds have been raised and construction is underway for the 12-bed Israel Family Hospice House in Ames.

Barbara Parks, director of development for the Mary Greeley Medical Center Foundation, said construction began about six weeks ago and is scheduled to be completed in December 1998.

The 11,300 square-foot house will primarily serve a population within 50 miles of Ames.

Parks said the lead $500,000 gift for the hospice house came from Mary and Warren Israel of Ames in the summer of 1997. Since then, the foundation has raised over $2 million to complete the house.

“We knew it was something that the community was very interested in,” Parks said.

The community partnership campaign has raised $2,314,360, exceeding the stated goal of $2 million. Parks said the surplus will go toward operational costs of the hospice house.

Mary Greeley expects the house to have an annual operating shortfall, according to a press release. Parks said the foundation will continue fundraising efforts to compensate for the shortfall.

“[The shortfall is caused by] a mixture of reimbursement that does not meet the full cost of patient care and the fact that the hospice house is operationally expensive,” she said.

Insurance companies and Medicare do not cover the full cost of hospice care, Parks said.

Mary Greeley Medical Center has operated the HOMEWARD hospice care program for the past 10 years. HOMEWARD cares for patients in their own homes. Parks said the Israel Family Hospice House will provide another option for terminally ill patients.

“Although most terminally ill patients prefer to die at home, sometimes they’re not able to be taken care of in their homes,” she said.

Patients lacking proper facilities or space in their homes, or those with unmanageable symptoms, could utilize the hospice house, Parks said.

In-home care through the HOMEWARD program will continue after the hospice house opens.

The Israel Family Hospice House will be the third such facility in Iowa. Mason City has a six-bed house, and two locations of a Des Moines hospice organization have 18 beds.

Eighty-one percent of patients the HOMEWARD program currently serves are age 65 and over. Almost three-quarters of patients are diagnosed with cancer, according to a press release.