Haven marks 10th anniversary of Custead Care Center

Haven Hospice rededicated its 10-year-old Custead Hospice Care Center on Wednesday, Oct. 12.

President Pauline Taylor said the center has helped hundreds of families over the past decade.

“We remain grateful to the Custead family for the generous gift that made Haven’s $10 million dream a reality,” she said, “as well as the hundreds of other families, local businesses, foundations, and grantmakers who saw the need for a project like this, the value that it brings to Orange Park and eagerly supported our capital campaign.”

Taylor said architects designed the 20,000-square-foot facility to preserve 80% of the specimen trees on the property. The center received an honorable mention from the Long-Term Living and Healthcare Design magazine.

“This inviting campus and beautiful care center encourage members of the community to volunteer their time here, enriching the experience of every patient and family that we have the privilege to care for,” Taylor said, “lending essential support to the physicians, nurses, nursing assistants, social workers, and chaplains who provide the quality care that everyone cherishes.”

Taylor said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the center never closed its doors.

“During the pandemic, we accepted transfers of covid-positive patients from hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living communities, and also private homes,” she said. “We welcomed family members of our patients so that no terminally ill patient lacked any support and that no patient would die alone.”

Taylor said that 10 years is a long time in healthcare and that the hospice movement is only 50 years old in the U.S.

She said the center has withstood challenges from an ever-growing population, threats from hurricanes, and the pandemic.

“We’ve come through all those challenges together, stronger, better, and more committed than ever to our mission,” she said, “which proves the value of this community investment.”