Florida Hospital closing small, unique hospice

For the past six years, a quaint, 6-room home called the Robison Residence has been providing hospice care to Central Florida’s low-income and homeless patients.

The one-story house is part of Florida Hospital’s Hospice of the Comforter in Altamonte Springs. It’s also one of the very few free-standing hospice residential facilities in Florida.

But on March 1, after six years, the residence is ceasing operations.

It’s closure will affect four residents, including Julie Nelson Day’s 84-year-old mother who has severe respiratory problems and is slowly dying.

The family moved her into the hospice in December, partly because it charges low-income elderly like her based on a sliding scale. So on Tuesday, when Day was notified that the residence is closing, she panicked.

“It’s just not right,” said Day, who lives in Massachusetts. “They have a moral obligation to care for these patients.”

Also legally, the hospice is obligate to safely discharge the patients, said Amy O’Rourke, president of Cameron Group Aging Life Care Services.

Hospital officials said social workers will work with families to find them an alternative. They’re also giving them the option to transfer their loved one to an area Adventist Care Center nursing home. There, the health system will continue to pay for their room and board and hospice care.

Florida Hospital officials said they decided to close the home because it has remained a financial burden to Hospice of the Comforter, despite financial donations. Another reason, they said, is Central Florida’s growing support for homeless individuals.

“We are confident there are resources in Central Florida and system support for homeless patients needing end-of-life care,” they said in a statement.

Day said she didn’t have many options for transferring her mother, because other facilities would be too expensive.

She took a bit of comfort in alternatives that hospital officials are providing her, but she said she was still upset.

“This just isn’t right,” she said.

nmiller@orlandosentinel.com, 407-420-5158, @naseemmiller

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