Hospice facility on track for Sebring

When their son Brian had a stroke in 2006, Carole and Al Dumbleton visited him in the Forsythe Hospice House. The 100-mile roundtrip drive was a long one for the Sebring couple even though Brian only lived for about five days.

Good Shepherd Hospice is making plans to change all that - and one of the reasons is because the closest hospice facility is located in Auburndale, where the Dumbletons had to travel.

"Probably in fall of this year, we're planning the groundbreaking," said Regional Director Becky McIntyre.

The only thing that would change those plans is if the final permitting process through South Florida Water Management District falls through - something McIntyre said she doesn't expect to happen.

There are three hospices located in the district that includes Highlands, Hardee and Polk counties, but this will be the first hospice in Highlands County.

The $9-million facility located on 6.3 acres near Lake Jackson will be completed about one year after the groundbreaking, McIntyre said.

Many of the figures she cited during a Monday meeting were similar to her January presentation to the Sebring City Council, but McIntyre said the design has "shrunk" slightly from two buildings to one.

"From the outside it looks like a large home; from the inside it looks like a bed and breakfast," McIntyre told executive officers at the Highlands County Homeowners Association meeting Monday morning.

When the facility is complete, there will be 24 beds in private rooms. The hospice will accept patients regardless of their ability to pay, McIntyre said. Financing for the non-profit comes from Medicare and community donations, like the one from Carole and Al Dumbleton.

The retired school teachers contributed a plaque dedicated to both their sons who died, Brian and Craig. The money for the plaque came from their donation of 7,000 bushels of corn. It will hang in a so-called quiet room used for doctors and families to gather and discuss the patient's condition.

"It's a wonderful way to keep your children in mind," Carole Dumbleton said.