HYANNIS – May 8, 2008 – Hospice & Palliative Care of Cape Cod (H &PCCC) is pleased to announce it has received approval from the State of Massachusetts to upgrade the Mary McCarthy Hospice House in Sandwich to become a hospice Inpatient Unit (IPU), similar to an Acute Care/Intensive Care Unit.  Once the upgrade is completed and approved, this will be the only such license granted on Cape Cod and only the third in the state. This allows for the provision of a higher level of skilled care at the house, broadening its’ capacity to serve more acute patient needs.

H & PCCC Chief Executive Officer David Rehm says, “We are delighted to have received this approval to move forward with the IPU licensing process. The resulting enhancements to the McCarthy House will enable us to provide patients and families with a unique medically sophisticated home-like setting as an alternative to staying in the hospital. We welcome the opportunity to meet a fuller scope of physical needs, along with the comprehensive spiritual and emotional care we provide.”

The house has been closed temporarily in order to make the renovations required to meet licensure requirements. The current residential program, including all patients and staff, has been moved for the duration to Whitehall Estates, an assisted living center in Hyannis.

H & PCCC Vice-President for Clinical Operations Susan Garcia Strauss says, “We are pleased to be partnering with Whitehall, which allows us to continue to serve our patients and families with the same consistent services and standards they have been receiving at the McCarthy House. We are even able to admit new patients as additional beds become available.”

Renovations are expected to be complete by summer, when patients and staff will return and an Open House will be held (date to be announced), so the public can view the state-of-the-art, ten-bed, Inpatient Unit.

The Mary McCarthy Hospice House opened in 2002 on land donated by the Jillson family of Sandwich. More than 1,000 community individuals, businesses and foundations contributed to the Capital Campaign conducted to construct the house.  It was designed by Cape Cod architect Grattan Gill to support patients’ and families’ physical, emotional and spiritual needs through an abundance of natural light, color and materials, and an overall design that enhances privacy, efficiency, comfort and personal space. It is open to all Cape Codders – and no one is turned away due to inability to pay. Since the house’s opening, more than 500 patients and families have been served.