New hospice facility starts construction in Barrington

Ground has been broken on Hospice of Northeastern Illinois' new Pepper Family Hospice Home and Center for Care in Barrington.

The new facility will be on nearly seven wooded acres at 405 Lake Zurich Road, off Northwest Highway just north of Lake-Cook Road. The property is adjacent to Citizens Park, the Barrington Area Library and The Garlands of Barrington retirement community.

Touted as only the third hospice home in Illinois, the building will have 16 inpatient rooms - the maximum allowed for hospice residences in Illinois - as well as a family room, children's play area, dining room, clinical team space, staff and volunteer training rooms, a quiet room, the Center for Loss and Hope, and administrative offices.

Hospice board Chairman Michael Moorman said the vision was to create a facility "to give patients in crisis a place to go to where they feel cared for and comfortable," where families can gather and stay as long as they want and where the bereavement staff can work under one roof.

The agency will continue to offer hospice care in private homes and extended care facilities but this gives clients and families another choice for the final days of care.

The new center will be constructed in line with the guidelines for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. Such buildings are considered less costly to operate and maintain, more energy- and water-efficient, healthier and safer for occupants and more effective in their use of resources.