Derby community builds hospice home for end of life care

People in Derby coming together to create a space for end of life. “I did not have that great time with my husband, that I would have liked to have had,” Marion Dehnke said. Marion Dehnke lost her husband Clint Stevens to cancer back in 2013. She says during that time, she was his caregiver, and he had to stay in a nursing home in a tiny room, with one other person. I asked them to please move him. You know, nursing homes around here are pretty full. I really just want people to have an option. To be able to go somewhere, where they can die with dignity,” Dehnke said. Community leaders, and members with the Newport Church of God invested in a solution called the Living Waters Hospice House. It is a two bedroom home dedicated to those in need in their final days. The project is worth a million dollars, and is funded entirely by donations Nurse and director of Living Waters, Karol Comtois says they need this, as there are not enough options in the Northeast Kingdom for end of life care. Construction for the home, started this past week, the groundbreaking ceremony was held on the church lawn Saturday. According to the Orleans Essex Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice, they will provide guidance and hospice services as needed. Officials with the church are not sure when phase two will start, the group is just focusing on fundraising for the time being.