Hospice Opens Satellite Office
April 14, 2006, Winchester Star

BERRYVILLE - Springtime represents Mother Nature's fresh start each year. For Blue Ridge Hospice, the fresh start constitutes not only new board members for 2006 but also the opening of a new satellite office on North Buckmarsh Street in Berryville.

On Thursday, representatives of the hospice gathered with members of the community to officially open the office with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Standing behind a blue ribbon stretched across the pillars on the front stoop of the office, Ernest J. Carnevale Jr., chief executive officer of Blue Ridge Hospice, welcomed the audience that stretched from the building's front around the corner onto Academy Street. "It has been at least three years now that I have been looking for a space in Berryville," he said. "We've finally found a home for our services here in Clarke County."

Staff members including nurses, social workers, certified nursing assistants, bereavement counselors, music therapists, and volunteers will work out of the office, which is located at 24 N. Buckmarsh St. "Today, currently, we take care of over 25 people in the Clarke County area," Carnevale said. "(The office) serves as our point of distribution so that we can keep all of our medical supplies here and so that the staff won't have to travel back and forth to Winchester on Route 7. ... Plus, we have all of our computers here so they can access the patients' records right here in this office."
Blue Ridge Hospice is leasing the home, Carnevale said. Very little remodeling work was done on the inside of the building and minimal landscaping work was done outside, he said.

In the future, the hospice plans to offer several services through the new satellite office, including individual and group counseling, support groups, and various workshops. The support groups will be geared toward a variety of subjects such as loss of spouses, care for caregivers, and loss of pets.
The support groups will meet on evenings and weekends to accommodate the schedules of participants.

Joining in the ribbon-cutting ceremony was U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-10th, who Carnevale said was instrumental in securing federal funds for the hospice's Center for Hope in Woodstock.
Also new for Blue Ridge Hospice are the officers who were elected to its board of directors in March.
Lynne Sayles was elected president, succeeding outgoing President Christopher Curran.
Kathy Gustin was elected vice president, Karen Oleksa secretary, and Robert Mowery treasurer.
Board members Su Webb, Jane Beaudoin, and Floyd Heater completed their terms this year.
Sally Hovermale joined the board last year.

-Angela Jones