Blagojevich awards $300,000 for Joliet Area Community Hospice

CHICAGO - Governor Rod R. Blagojevich today awarded $300,000 in funding to the Joliet Area Community Hospice for its new Hospice Home, which opened in January.  The Hospice Home at 4201 McDonough Street in Joliet was the first hospice facility of its kind in the State of Illinois.

 

"Joliet Area Community Hospice has been caring for the needs of the terminally ill in Will County and surrounding areas for over twenty years," said Governor Blagojevich.  "This hospice home will enable the organization to provide a whole new range of compassionate services for patients and their families."

 

Established in 1982, Joliet Area Community Hospice has provided care to patients in their homes or through a network of fifteen nursing homes in Will and Grundy counties, and in parts of Cook, Kendall and Kankakee counties.  The Hospice Home will offer a high level of skilled care in a homelike setting to patients whose families desire hospice care but at a level that cannot be provided at the patient's home.  The home will also offer greater control over patient care in an atmosphere not possible in a medical facility.  The sixteen-bedroom home will resemble a private residence both inside and out.

 

"I want to thank the Governor for supporting the work of the Joliet Area Community Hospice", said state Senator Larry Walsh.  "The staff at the Joliet Area Community Hospice ensure people will be treated with dignity and respect at the end of their lives".

 

"I'm proud the State of Illinois is able to be a partner in this endeavor and I congratulate the Joliet Area Community Hospice on the opening of this facility," added the Governor.