The 12-bed Stanley C. and Flo K. Gault Inpatient Unit at Ohio’s Hospice Wooster is celebrating 10 years of creating a place of peace and comfort for patients so they feel like they are at home. 

Director of Accreditation Readiness, Ginger Preston, remembers helping the dream of making a beautiful inpatient unit a reality. 

As the former director of inpatient services, Preston helped the Gault project by writing policies, buying equipment, hiring and training staff. 

“Wow! I am so very proud of the team who had a vision to open an inpatient unit,” she said. “The hours spent and the money donated by the community, especially the Gault family, to build this wonderful unit is heartwarming.” 

She said current and former staff have always shown a commitment to provide superior care and superior services to patients and the families they are privileged to serve. 

“I even worked a few shifts myself including nights,” Preston said. “I remember answering a call light one time, attempting to assist a patient to the bathroom, who was weary of how I might help him in my red heels.” 

Regional Vice-President of Clinical Care, Debbie Meadows, has been part of Ohio’s Hospice since 1998 and remembers the significance of the Gault Inpatient Unit coming to fruition. 

“Prior to the opening of our own inpatient space, we had great partnerships with our community hospitals where we had inpatient contracts for our hospice patients,” Meadows explained. “We still knew there was so much more that could be provided in a specialized setting with dedicated, trained hospice personnel.” 

She added that when we were able to begin serving patients at Gault, the benefits were clear right away.  

“Our team was able to focus on supporting the family as well as any patient we were serving. Our focus on comfort and caring for the whole person has been a hallmark in everything we do,” Meadows said. “I have had friends and family served in our unit and am forever grateful to have the full complement of an interdisciplinary team providing such expertise, care and compassion.” 

Team Leader, Karen Lidge, saluted the inpatient center noting that its creation was a key factor in her personal development. 

“Gault was the very reason I was able to transition from a stagnant long-term Department of Nursing role and follow my calling to serve the hospice community and that hospice experience,” Lidge said. “It also became the place I would watch my mother take her final breath many years later.” 

Watching the staff at Gault gracefully take care of her dying mother, while managing her symptoms, was something Lidge says she wouldn’t have entrusted anyone else to do. 

“That type of dedication and care is something I’ll always hold near and dear to my heart,” she said. “As a hospice nurse that worked in that unit and a passion for what we do there, I remember being in such awe and disbelief that I was on the other end.” 

Congratulations to our teammates at Gault Inpatient Unit for their dedication and continued support of our mission!