Hospice – Definition: The specialized form of medical care offered to people who are nearing the end of their lives provides comfort, symptom management, and support to patients and their families at a difficult time.

What do we see in our mind when we hear the term “Hospice”: a stark, uninviting atmosphere of fluorescent lights and beeping machines. Or maybe, a rented hospital bed in the home with drop-in visits from providers.

Let’s re-vision what hospice can be. Sacred Ground Hospice House, a 20,000 square foot facility at 120 Dry Gap Pike in Knoxville, transforms these visions of hospice care into a warm, inviting environment where dignity flourishes in life’s final chapters. The surprisingly spacious rooms are created individually, bathed in light from large windows looking out at beautifully landscaped gardens or open fields where deer may roam by at any moment. Walls are painted in warm pastel hues, creating a soothing backdrop for paintings that are anything but institutional.

The entrance to a room. Each room is so designed.

The bed, albeit a hospital bed, is anything but, with a thick, comfortable mattress, cozy blankets, and plush pillows to increase the comfort level. The bathroom provides a large shower, not necessarily for the patients but for the family. The towels are high-end and soft, not worn or old.

Each room is uniquely decorated to provide a comfortable space.

Each room accommodates a comfortable reclining sofa plus a table with chairs to provide families with the opportunity to relax and socialize during their visits. The facility offers open family spaces with sitting areas, porches and refreshment areas.

This innovative concept is the brainchild of Cindy Bradley, so this story starts with her journey.

Cindy, a real estate broker with her own office, invested in several rental properties with her husband. After her husband passed away, her life took a different direction.

As she sat in her office, she read Sandra Clark’s article on the closing of the Halls Hospice, where her mother had spent the last weeks of her life. She felt the loss of that service would be devastating to the community, so she set out to save the building.

A woman of faith, Cindy says, “I simply said, ‘Ok, God, if you want it to be, show me how.’”

She says when you know God’s speaking, it is to something you would never have thought of on your own. He didn’t let up, so I started calling people to see if I could connect them and save the Halls property. We went through about a year of meetings and trying to see if we could save that building, and it just wasn’t doable.

Instead of giving up, she found the current property, a former Methodist church, and set the wheels in motion to purchase it right before Covid hit in 2020. The eventual closing was in June 2020, so the remodel was done during the height of Covid, and Cindy is convinced God was in it the whole time, as she recounts. “We got our prices locked in on our materials and came in actually about $200,000 under budget when everything was skyrocketing during Covid.”

Again, Cindy is a demonstration of faith and dedication as God intended for her to do this work. She had always lived frugally and invested in the real estate she sold. She relates: “I sold our rental houses and cashed out our retirement account. We built the hospice house and were able to open it debt-free.”

How does this hospice house work? If a patient is at home and has hospice through their health care provider, and the patient moves to Sacred Ground Hospice House, the hospice provider remains the same.

The hospice provider directs the medical journey while Sacred Ground provides 24-7 care like the patient was at home.

Cindy says, “All we do is just love on people and take care of them till that last breath. We make every breath count. We do whatever the family and patient want, because we’re here for both of them.”

Budgeting and finances: As I wrote earlier, Sacred Ground is debt-free. Operating on a budget of less than $1 million a year, 80% of Sacred Ground’s budget is the clinical side of the care. Everything from the office to the kitchen is handled by carefully screened volunteers, including Cindy, who takes no salary.

“God sees the first breath to the last; he knew what I was going to be doing 20 years later. My dad was one of the very first home hospice patients in Knox County when only Fort Sanders had a home hospice. Beth and Nancy were there, two hospice nurses. And then my mom was one of the first patients at the residential hospice in Halls, and she was there six weeks. I knew what it was like to stay in that room around the clock and what I wished had been available. So that’s how I created this facility.”

It is the fourth anniversary of the opening, and Sacred Ground has served almost 800 families.

Not only do volunteers take care of the inside of Sacred Ground Hospice House, but area church congregation members step in to handle the yard work and provide the daily and monthly supplies. For example, Bob O’Connor pulled weeds for them and said, “If you’ll get a walk-behind zero-turn mower, a push mower, and a weed eater to stay here, I’ll take care of this yard.” Cindy got on Facebook, and a guy she went to high school with sent her a message, “You know how much dad loved that ministry? He left me a little money. I’m going to go buy you a zero-turn tomorrow.” And he went and bought a $7,000 zero-turn. Corryton Church did all the landscaping, dug a well, and fixed an irrigation system. Sunday School classes provide supplies like paper towels.

There is always a need for other supplies:

  • 8-gallon trash bags, about 30 a day (1 every time we change a patient )
  • 40-gallon trash bags, three a day
  • Flexible straws
  • Gloves: 200 pairs per month (M & L )
  • Canned drinks: two cases per month of Coke, Sprite, Ginger Ale
  • Hand sanitizer

The facility provides a meeting space for local organizations as well. On Valentine’s Day, over 100 ladies came to celebrate. The Halls Business and Professional Association meets in the facility monthly.

For more information on Sacred Ground Hospice, donations, or use of the facility, contact Cindy Bradley at sacredgroundhospicehouse@gmail.com.

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