VITAS Healthcare, the nation’s leading provider of end-of-life care, has broken ground on a new Inpatient Hospice Unit (IPU) at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, caring for patients in 14 area counties. VITAS currently operates 28 IPUs nationwide and this will be VITAS’ third IPU in the Dallas and Fort Worth markets. The existing facilities are at Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Carrollton and at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth. The new VITAS IPU, expected to be completed in early 2019, is located at 1441 North Beckley Avenue in Dallas.

Hospice IPUs, like the Dallas facility, enable VITAS to provide care for hospice patients whose symptoms have become unmanageable in their home-care setting while adhering to the patient’s wishes for end of life care. VITAS leads the way in the development of hospice and palliative care to improve the quality of life for patients and their families.

“We are thrilled to expand our presence in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and to be able to better serve patients and families in the southern sector,” said Marilyn Conley, general manager of VITAS Healthcare of Dallas. “We look forward to providing more patients with the unique care they require, while helping them feel like they are in the comfort of their own home.”

 The 13,000 square foot IPU is a $2.8 million renovation on the fifth floor of Schenkel Tower at Methodist Dallas Medical Center. Expected to serve more than 800 patients each year, the IPU will have 16 private patient rooms as well as family rooms, a children’s room, a quiet room, kitchen amenities and overnight accommodations for family members. It will also be equipped with support spaces where interdisciplinary teams of physicians, nurses, hospice aides, social workers, chaplains, volunteers and bereavement support staff members can attend to the medical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of patients and their families.

All hospice-appropriate patients will benefit from VITAS’ unique care model ensuring that only nurses provide hands-on, compassionate care at the bedside. VITAS also offers a wide range of holistic services to enhance the quality of life for patients and families including massage therapy, music therapy, pet therapy, veterans program and memory bears, as well as access to a full-time child bereavement specialist and full-time respiratory therapist.