October 14, 2022
TO: Warm Hearth Village Residents and Employees
FROM: Edward F. D. Spencer, Board Chair
RE: Proposed Warm Hearth/Sojourn Center Partnership
You may have heard that Warm Hearth has been considering a partnership with
Sojourn Center to operate an inpatient hospice center (commonly called a hospice
house) to serve terminally ill people and their families in the New River Valley.
While this fits with our values—fostering dignity and independence in those we
serve—we regrettably are unable to commit to an operator/management role at this
time. After reviewing the results of two feasibility studies, we realized that given
the low hospice participation rate in our area and the overall financial implications
of such a project, becoming the clinical operator for an inpatient hospice facility is
not viable in the current health care environment. We remain supportive of Sojourn
Center and its vision. We too believe every life should be honored, celebrated, and
supported.
We also remain committed to Warm Hearth’s strategic goal of becoming our own
hospice agency, however this cannot be accomplished overnight. Once this goal is
achieved, we could reconsider partnering with Sojourn Center if circumstances
have changed and are favorable for doing so.
Further information about this decision is available at Sojourn Center’s webpage:
www.sojourncenter.org
