AUGUSTA, Maine — The Department of Veterans Affairs hospital has a new 12-room hospice unit.
The $3.1 million unit for end-of-life care opened Tuesday after a wing of the hospital in the Togus section of Augusta was renovated.
The Kennebec Journal says that each of the rooms has its own bathroom, minirefrigerator, microwave and television. There is also a room where families can meet and a common area that includes a double-sided fireplace with gas logs and a flat-screen television.
The hospice facility was proposed for 2003, but it didn’t receive the needed funding until 2009. Construction began last year and took eight months.
Kandyce Powell of the Maine Hospice Council says the VA is emerging as a leader in end-of-life care.