SUNBURY — Construction has started on a six-bed Hospice Care Center on the third floor of Sunbury Community Hospital. The unit is scheduled to open this September.

The hospice will offer patients with a life-limiting illness an alternative to care during their last weeks or days of life, while providing advanced symptom management and pain control.

All services will be provided by SUN Home Hospice staff members and 14 new jobs are expected to be created when the project is complete.

“This facility is going to be a real asset to the Susquehanna Valley, not only in terms of patient care, but in job creation; it’s truly a win-win situation” said state Rep. Russell H. Fairchild, R-85, Lewisburg.

The SUN Home Hospice Care Center is a needed program for the community, Fairchild continued.

State Rep. Merle H. Phillips, R-108, Sunbury, said, “It is great to have a facility like this in our community. There is such a need for the specialized services of hospice, and I know many patients and their families will benefit.”

The inpatient facility will be the only one of its kind in the Central Susquehanna Valley, and will serve all patients appropriate for care without regard to their payment source. As a community based not-for-profit organization, SUN Home Health and Hospice annually provides more than $200,000 in uncompensated charity care to the most frail and needy throughout the Valley.

While most hospice care takes place in the patient’s home, there are times when home hospice is not enough to meet the special needs of some patients during difficult periods in their course of treatment. Keeping pain and symptoms under control is a primary objective of hospice, and at times more intensive intervention is necessary.

The SUN Home Hospice Care Center will allow for patients to be admitted for brief periods of time when they need special services and still maintain home-like comforts.

The unit will be staffed with specially trained hospice professionals, and will be decorated in a home-like atmosphere. Unlimited family visitation, where even small pets are allowed, and comfortable surroundings will make the unit a special place where patients and families can continue to receive the special care of hospice.

To date, nearly $200,000 has been raised for the project through individual and business contributions, as well as foundation and grant funding support.

For more information about the SUN Home Hospice Care Center call 473-7656.