Haven Hospice’s Custead Care Center Opens in Orange Park, Florida

Haven Hospice’s Homer J. Sr. & Fern O. Custead Care Center is the first dedicated Hospice center in Clay County.  The Custead Care Center will provide expanded service to patients and families in Orange Park and Clay County.

“Haven Hospice is pleased to expand its direct service and care to meet the needs of residents in Clay County,” said Tim Bowen, president of Haven Hospice.

Some of the services that the Custead Care Center will provide include inpatient palliative and end-of-life care, respite care support for families and caregivers, and grief support.

In addition to the Custead Care Center’s 18 private inpatient rooms, it offers a non-denominational chapel for memorial services, prayers and meditation.  It also provides a large community room in the administrative building can also be used by local groups and organizations for events and meetings.

The Custead Care Center was designed to save more than 80% of the specimen trees on the nine-acre property on Blanding Boulevard, and it was built to the Florida Department of Emergency Management’s standards for a Special Needs Shelter, which is supposed to withstand the impact of a Category 3 hurricane.

Haven Hospice has served needs of Clay County residents since 2002, and more than 600 employees and 600 volunteers have helped Haven care for more than 60,000 patients and families in 18 counties in north Florida since 1979.

Many members of our community have also been helped by Community Hospice at its locations in the Jacksonville area, which include the Earl B. Hadlow Center for Caring on Sunbeam Road, the George and Margaret Morris Center for Caring – Shands Jacksonville, the Dr. Gaston J. Acosta-Rua Center for Caring on Ramona Boulevard, the Anne and Donald McGraw Center for Caring – Mayo Clinic campus, and the Bailey Family Center for Caring – Flagler Hospital campus.

Hospice care is typically synonymous with palliative care and is provided for seriously ill patients and families who are facing end-of-life illnesses.  Hospice care helps patients and their families with specialized care that is designed to help maintain quality of life and provide comfort through compassionate and attentive services. The goal of palliative care is to relieve suffering and provide the best possible quality of life for people facing the pain, symptoms and stresses of serious illness.

If you’d like to assist Haven Hospice in accomplishing its mission of caring for patients facing end-of-life illnesses, please contact them about volunteer opportunities.