Gilchrist to build hospice center at Memorial Stadium site

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Gilchrist, Maryland’s largest provider of serious illness and end-of-life care, has broken ground on a new hospice center that will allow for the relocation of its existing Baltimore facility.

The new 30,000 square-foot Gilchrist Center Baltimore, situated on 1.5 acres at Stadium Place on East 33^rd Street, will contain 18 private adult and four pediatric suites for inpatient residential hospice and respite care.

The facility will be the new location for Gilchrist’s current inpatient hospice center at Eutaw Street – the former Joseph Richey House, which has provided end-of-life care for city residents for more than 30 years.

The new center will continue to be the only residential hospice center in Baltimore and will house the only pediatric inpatient hospice unit in Maryland. The addition of Gilchrist’s hospice center will create a continuum of care for residents in one central location.

“We are thrilled to begin the construction of this state-of-the-art center for the Baltimore City community,” said Catherine Hamel, president of Gilchrist. “We are proud to work alongside GEDCO and other nonprofit partners to offer this one-of-a-kind continuing care community for Baltimore City residents. With this new center, we will ensure that vital end-of-life services will be provided with compassion and dignity to all who need them, including the underserved and underprivileged.”

Stadium Place, the former site of Memorial Stadium, owned by the nonprofit GEDCO, is a national exemplar community redevelopment of 30 acres that provides housing and long-term care to over 500 low- to mid-income Baltimore City seniors.

The project is set to be completed by 2021. Gilchrist has reached 70 percent of its $15.3 million fundraising goal for construction and capital costs for the center, including a $1 million commitment from the state of Maryland.

Each patient will have access to the full spectrum of hospice care, including medical, emotional, and spiritual, with a focus on quality of life. Music therapy, final veteran salutes, as well as counseling and bereavement services offered to the surrounding community will also be available.