Mary Greeley Medical Center announced today it will close the Israel Family Hospice House in December.
The announcement ensures that the hospice services the hospital provides at the house will continue. Home care is currently available and an in-hospital service will be added as well as at other hospitals where MGMC has partnerships and agreements.
The closure is pending a vote by the hospital’s board of trustees, which is scheduled for the board’s meeting Tuesday.
“This is a difficult decision and it was not made lightly,” said Steve Sullivan, director of marketing and community relations for Mary Greeley. “We have for quite some time been giving strong consideration to the future of the Israel House.”
Opening in 1999, the free-standing IFHH, located on South Dakota Avenue on the west side of town, sits on an 8-acre plot of land and employs 17 people in a variety of positions. Some employees at IFHH will be transitioned into other MGMC hospice care.
“We will do everything we can to provide other employment opportunities at Mary Greeley,” Sullivan said.
Demand for the house has been in decline for years, which isn’t unique to Ames. Rather, it’s part of a national trend. While there are 10 rooms in the house, Sullivan said that on average there are four patients in the house, but there are times when the house has none.
“Today, there is simply more competition with for-profit hospital services,” Sullivan said.
For the current patients at IFHH, Mary Greeley made plans to ensure they continue to get “high quality care” after the closure.
The number of options beyond Mary Greeley’s service has grown multifold over the years, he said. The cost of keeping IFHH operating is also approaching unsustainable numbers.
“Hospice has always had a deficit and was always going to be a subsidized service,” Sullivan said.
Recently, the Mary Greeley Foundation provided $1 million to cover the operating loss of the IFHH. “That’s not sustainable,” Sullivan said.
Mary Greeley’s home hospice care is being used by about 30 to 40 people per day and that service will not be impacted by this closure.
End of life services began with Ames Visiting Nursing Services in 1980. It merged with Story County Public Health Nursing and Story County Homemaker Health Aide Service in 1986 to form Homeward, which has since become Mary Greeley’s Home Health and Hospice Services. When the IFHH opened in 1999, it was the fourth facility of its kind in Iowa.
There are no immediate plans for what happens to the IFHH building or property.
