Designed with Dignity Reserve Care opens new state-of-the-art inpatient hospice facility on shores of Lake Erie By Dan Holland | Photos by Aerial Agents, DiMare Video Productions & Scott Pease
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eserve Care – formerly Hospice of the Western Reserve – a nonprofit provider of hospice, palliative and supportive care with 17 locations across Northern Ohio, recently unveiled its brand-new $25 million inpatient hospice facility along the shores of Lake Erie. The 53,000-square-foot development was funded via individual and corporate donations through a “Quality of Life” campaign that raised $23 million.
Beginnings
The new facility replaces the adjacent David Simpson Hospice House, at 300 E. 185th St., which opened in 1995. Reserve Care plans to demolish the aging facility once all staff and operations relocate to the new building, according to Facilities Director Robert Phillips-Plona. Plans to redevelop the former hospice property are pending. “We have a place next door that opened in 1995, which was one of the first in the country,” explains Phillips-Plona. “It was built as a residential hospice, and at that time, our patients were up and walking around from about six months up to a
year. Now, if we have them for six hours to six days, we’re fortunate.” “Hospices changed and end-of-life care changed over time,” he adds. “The old building is spread out over three floors, but now the staff needs things to be more efficient. So, when we were coming over here, we wanted to view it from the standpoint of the patient experience, the family and visitor experience and the staff experience of the building.” The hospice board began investigating whether to renovate the existing structure or build new during the early 2020s. A study revealed that constructing a new facility would be more cost-effective and operationally efficient. “The building was falling apart, and we kept putting so much money into it, and we had planned to rearrange the space and all kinds of things,” explains Phillips-Plona. “When we decided it was time to move out of there, we made the decision to find out how much it would
cost. We already had the land, and it had been cleared. It was a matter of how to raise the money.”
Site history
The 11-acre lakefront site, which abuts Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School, the David Simpson Hospice House and a residential neighborhood, was purchased by Reserve Care in 2011. The site previously housed a sanitarium that included a large, spherical steel hyperbaric chamber for treating patients, a stately mansion and home – which was later acquired by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, serving as an orphanage and later as a retreat center. The acreage served as a park after the hospice group demolished the existing buildings.
Assembling a team
Harlan + Associates, of Beachwood, was brought in as owner’s representative for the project in summer 2023, folwww.propertiesmag.com 9
Photo by DiMare Video Productions
The one-story, 32-bed facility, located at 18485 Lakeshore Blvd. in Cleveland, hosted a public open house on May 8. Plans call for the building, which offers views of Lake Erie from all patient rooms, to be fully open by early summer.