Hackensack Med Center Adds 12-Bed Hospice Unit

By BOB GROVES, STAFF WRITER

Hackensack University Medical Center opened an inpatient hospice unit on Thursday to give terminally ill patients “a special place to die with dignity.”

“We waited to get the best of everything. I’m pleased with that,” said Sally Liptak, administrative director of the unit.

The 12-bed unit is at the Prospect Heights Care Center, on Prospect Avenue near the hospital. It is meant to provide a “continuation of care” for acute patients in the last stages of cancer and other diseases, Liptak said.

The unit is an extension of Hackensack’s 27-year-old hospice care program in patients’ homes, and in private nursing facilities.

The Inpatient Hospice Unit has a staff of 29 social workers, nurses, home health aides and other personnel, Liptak said. Family members can stay overnight, share meals and even bring pets, she said.

There are 10 private and two semi-private rooms along a corridor of warm light and artwork. The unit will eventually add two more beds, said Steven Schilsky, administrator of Prospect Heights, a private 180-bed facility that opened in 2000 for short-term and long- term patients, including elderly residents. Hackensack is leasing the space for its hospice unit from the facility.

“Even though we’re the landlord, it enhances our relationship with the medical center and expands our service to the community,” Schilsky said.

Liptak, a nurse, joined Hackensack President and Chief Executive Officer John P. Ferguson and other hospital officials to open the unit in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

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E-mail: groves@northjersey.com

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