Stand-alone NoCo hospice set to open

FORT COLLINS  — Pathways, a 44-year-old nonprofit agency that provides hospice, palliative care, plus grief- and loss-counseling services, will host an opening ceremony and ribbon-cutting for a new stand-alone inpatient care center from noon to 3 p.m. July 23 at 305 Carpenter Road.

The 12-bed center, made possible by an $8 million capital campaign, will offer hospice care in a homelike setting to patients needing hospital-level treatment. The design includes easy access to the outdoors — including a labyrinth — and windows situated just under the ceiling provide a view of the sky, even for patients in a supine position.

Pathways spokesman Evan Hyatt said the 15,000-square-foot facility has room for expansion to accommodate a total of 18 beds.

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According to a media release, the facility is the only standalone hospice in Northern Colorado. Each room will be large enough to accommodate groups of visitors and allows up to three family members to stay overnight and use a communal kitchen. 

The new hospice, built in response to projections that the number of Larimer County residents age 65 and older will grow by 140% in the next 20 years, replaces a six-bed hospice center Pathways leased at McKee Medical Center in Loveland, which had limited space and was full one out of every four days in 2020, according to the Pathways media release. “Patients had to line up in area hospitals while waiting for a hospice bed to become available,” according to the release. A similar unit at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley closed in 2018.

Pathways also intends to work with local colleges and universities to educate the next generation of health-care professionals, including nurses, physicians, social workers, therapists and counselors.

The ceremony will include tours of the facility and the unveiling of a bronze sculpture called “Harmony of Hearts,” built by Shari Vines of Loveland.

MOA Architecture designed the building, and Fransen and Pittman was the general contractor.