A Dream for a New Approach to Hospice Care

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In 2012, members of St. Barnabas Lutheran Church in Plymouth, Minnesota began exploring a new approach to residential hospice care, one that would address both its high cost and the need for flexible staffing.

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The congregation has a 1.4 acre piece of property adjacent to its church property and wants to use it in a way that will address a community need.  A task force visited other residential hospices in the area and studied the challenges of providing such care.  It occurred to them that if a residential hospice was able to open its doors without the financial burden of a mortgage, that would be a significant savings that could be passed on to patients and their families through lower fees.  Some seed money allowed the task force to accomplish three important steps:

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It commissioned a market analysis to verify that there is adequate population density in the west suburbs to provide a high degree of confidence that an 8-bed hospice would have enough demand to have a daily average of being 75% occupied (which is considered the “break even” point financially).

It had an architectural firm develop site plan options to assure that the 1.4 acre site had enough space to hold a 10,000 sq. ft. building and adequate parking.

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It verified with the City of Plymouth that a residential hospice could meet city zoning requirements.

Assured that there is a need for a residential hospice and that the lot was adequate, the task force took the steps to incorporate as “Jordan Crossing” (so that the corporation was legally separate from St. Barnabas Lutheran Church) and receive its 501(c)3 status from the IRS as a non-profit corporation.  The St. Barnabas congregation then agreed to lease the 1.4 acres to Jordan Crossing for 20 years for $1 a year — if Jordan Crossing could raise a little over $3 million to erect and furnish the building.

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