The Murray-Calloway County Hospital has broken ground on the new Anna Mae Owen Residential Hospice House, seven years after the hospital's board of trustees first began to entertain the idea of building a hospice facility.
The $3.5 million needed for the hospice house was solely provided by donations, collected through the Murray Calloway Endowment for Healthcare. The six-year fundraising effort included a mix of grants, private donations, fundraisers and events such as the annual Murray Half Marathon.
The five-acre property was donated by Kenneth Owen in 2012.
The construction of the facility is expected to last 18-24 months. Once complete, the hospice house will be an acute care, inpatient facility that is specifically designed for the care of patients facing end-of-life scenarios.