St. Luke Hospitals: Hospice Unit

The Hospice Unit of Northern Kentucky, launched in partnership with The St. Luke Hospitals, combines the comfort, dignity and intimacy of home hospice care with specialized medical attention in a state-of-the art, 24-hour acute care facility.

When terminally ill persons near the end of life, their symptoms and discomfort often become too difficult to manage at home. The burden of this patient decline is frequently too much for the family to bear, and a more intensive level of medical care is needed. Presently, however, many of these patients must choose between the comfort and dignity of receiving end-of-life team care in the home and generalized inpatient services in a hospital setting.

Patient Rooms

The Hospice Unit of Northern Kentucky at St. Luke has nine patient rooms, furnished in a manner that creates a warm, comfortable, home-like environment. Unlike a traditional hospital setting, the dedicated hospice unit will offer:

Highly skilled, individualized care led by a pain and symptom management physician and provided by a team of hospice nurses, social workers and spiritual care counselors. The interdisciplinary team will work round-the-clock to meet the physical, social, psychological and spiritual needs of patients and families.
An environment in which family and friends are encouraged to stay close to their loved ones—accommodations such as sleeper sofas, family kitchen and rest areas, and washers and dryers are provided to allow families to be actively present with their loved ones at all times. Pets are welcome, as they are sometimes an important part of patient families.
Patient rooms that provide a warm, home-like setting, increasing intimacy, comfort, meaning and dignity throughout the dying process.
The inpatient unit will also offer, as space allows, a place of respite for patients and caregivers. Respite provides a short-term period of care for terminally ill persons, giving family caregivers an opportunity for rest when the burden of home-based care is too much to bear.

History and Certifications

For nearly a decade, Hospice of the Bluegrass-Northern Kentucky has provided physical, emotional and spiritual care to hundreds of terminally ill Kentuckians and their families.

Last year, Hospice of the Bluegrass-Northern Kentucky served more than 900 terminally ill children, adolescents and adults, and their families in Boone, Carroll, Campbell, Gallatin, northern Grant and Kenton Counties.

Certified by Medicare and Medicaid, and accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), Hospice of the Bluegrass-Northern Kentucky, a subsidiary of Hospice of the Bluegrass, is recognized as a national leader in care for the dying. Hospice of Northern Kentucky provides compassionate, end-of-life care to terminally ill persons in need regardless of their ability to pay.