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Community
Hospice house dedicated
Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL
Lynn Bonde, executive director of Calvert Hospice, shows her delight Saturday after cutting the ribbon on the Burnett-Calvert Hospice House in Prince Frederick.
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A substantial crowd celebrated the official grand opening and ribbon cutting at the new Burnett-Calvert Hospice House on Sixes Road in Prince Frederick on Saturday morning.
Lynn Bonde, executive director of Calvert Hospice, was visibly moved as she acknowledged the contributions of many in the crowd.
"The hospice house is the result of years of effort on the part of so many of you, the residents of Calvert County," she said. "Today we express deeply heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you for bringing this desperately needed resource from simply a dream to a reality."
Del. Sue Kullen (D-Calvert), paid special tribute to Barbara Burnett, who donated the 2.5 acres for the hospice house in memory of her husband, Robbie, a Calvert Hospice patient who died in 2000.
"I think when we get to heaven, our judgment is going to be on how well we take care of each other and I think that, with this hospice house here, Calvert County has a head start with all the people involved in this effort," said Kullen. "One person especially shines through all this today. Barb Burnett has made an astronomical gift to make this possible." Kullen presented Burnett with a framed poem to commemorate the occasion.
Following a rendition of "Just One Dream," by the Chesapeake Community Chorus, Bonde paid tribute to Bob Taylor, Gary Luckett and Jay Webster for their "relentless patience and dedication to the house."
"This is a great day," she continued. "We are standing here because of all of you. In 1999 at a Calvert Hospice board of directors retreat [a board member] said, ‘What about a hospice house?' The board said that was an important issue, an important thing to look at for the future, but not just yet.
"In 2002, however, a lot of the problems we had been facing were working towards resolution and the board realized that a hospice house's time had come. In 2003, Barbara Burnett walked into my office and said, ‘Nobody else has come forward, and Robbie told me that he wanted me to give you this land,' and here we are," Bonde continued. "Almost seven years later we are standing here because of all of you, because of your constancy, because of your generosity, your support and your embracing of this organization's dream of a home for those who have no home at the end of their lives."
The hospice house will be a home-away-from-home, available to anyone in Calvert County for whom care at home is not an option, according to a prepared release. "The six-bed residence will be available on a first-come, first-served basis, regardless of the individual's ability to pay and will be staffed with trained, professional hospice caregivers around the clock," the release stated.
Tiffany Gaines, CRNP, manager of the hospice house, said in the release, "our team will support individuals and families just as it would in their own residence with the full range of hospice services, including medicines, oxygen, equipment and medical supplies. In recent years, hospice has been caring more and more for folks who live alone, with elderly or frail caregivers, or with family members whose lives are already filled with the responsibilities of work and family. Often times, institutional placement is the only option, but now we have a comfortable, home-like alternative."
Following the ceremonies, visitors were invited to tour the new hospice house and grounds. While walking through the facility, Wilson Parran, president of the Board of County Commissioners, commented, "I'm overwhelmed This is something where the community support, the business support, the elected officials' support resulted in … a place where families who have a member who is about to leave this earth, will have a place of comfort. It's just wonderful. This says that our community cares about those who reach a point in their life where there may be nowhere else to turn."
