Bluegrass Care Navigators is celebrating the one-year anniversary of the hospice care center at UK HealthCare.

Since its opening in spring of 2018, more than 500 patients have benefited from this dedicated hospital space for hospice care.

The care center provides a comforting place for patients and families to have quality time together while facing the final stages of a serious illness, while also benefitting from the full-time nursing and physician care provided in the hospital setting.

Bluegrass Care Navigators identified a need for a dedicated unit while caring for patients and families throughout the hospital.

Inpatient hospice care involves expert symptom management for hospice patients in a homelike hospital setting, providing round-the-clock medical and nursing care to manage distressing symptoms. Specially trained staff and volunteers carry out a patient-focused plan of care developed by the hospice team in collaboration with the patient, family, and attending physician. Both patients and families can receive emotional and spiritual support from Bluegrass Care Navigator social workers and chaplains.

Located on the third floor of UK’s Ben F. Roach Building, the hospice care center has 10 private rooms and a common room and kitchen to provide many of the comforts of home for families and patients. Additionally, the center has expanded visitation hours to allow the family more time with their loved one.

The facility is one of only a handful of hospice inpatient care centers in the country located in an academic medical center. This unique collaboration offers opportunities to provide expert care as well as training and education on hospice and palliative medicine.

Bluegrass Care Navigators provides hospice care in 32 counties across central, eastern and northern Kentucky. In addition, the agency supports those facing serious illness or chronic disease with private duty nursing, home primary care, transitional care, adult day healthcare and palliative care services.