Home with hospice care in Vinohrady

Home with hospice care is a hospice facility that offers an intimate environment combined with a combination of all-day residential care, home hospice services, and the possibility of unlimited visits from the patient’s family and friends. Due to the nature and combination of care, it is a unique facility in the Czech Republic. Its presence in Anglo-Saxon countries, however, is no longer unusual. The mobile hospice service is provided by Cesta domů o.s.

The home with hospice care was realized as part of the reconstruction of the attic of a senior home in Prague's Vinohrady. It is intended for four patients, offering them appropriate facilities. We wanted to create an environment close to home, that is intimate and kind, which provides sufficient privacy for the patient while also offering space for caregivers. It should replace a real home as much as possible and help the family with their care. Due to the circumstances, the final solution was developed during the construction work.

The home with hospice care has the character of a large apartment or a home guesthouse. The scale and character of the spaces are designed to allow both patients and visitors to adapt to the new environment without significant changes to their home habits. This is supported by a clear layout, which is intuitively easy to understand and complemented by the colorfulness of the floors. A separate chapter was the effort to eliminate various elements that would remind one of the atmosphere and operation of an institutional facility.

The design had to combine a number of different requirements. We sought the right degree of enclosure and openness of individual spaces so that we could accommodate the differing needs for privacy of patients and their loved ones over time and in various life situations. We looked for a way to offer the possibility of a "shared home" at certain moments and to allow a high degree of privacy when needed.

We also considered the optimal level of furnishing of individual rooms. On one hand, there was the desire to create a home-like environment with a high degree of occupancy, while on the other, there was the need to keep the option open to personalize the home environment according to one's own preferences. The demand for a certain domestic simplicity and ordinariness stood against the effort to offer a better standard of equipment. As a result, the patients' rooms are soberly furnished with the possibility to personalize the home environment with one's own small furnishings or personal items.

The entrance to the home is located in the central part of the floor from the stairwell with an elevator. The entrance area is followed by an open reception with a nurse on permanent duty. The reception and entrance utilize upper natural lighting from roof skylights and form the center of operational activity. On one side is the communal part of the home, and on the other side are the patients' rooms. The necessary support facilities are connected to the rear of the reception, while the remaining operational facilities are located in the adjacent Social Care Center.

The individual rooms are designed as separate single rooms that, if needed, also allow for the stay of a caregiver from the family. They are equipped to a hotel room standard. The common room provides space for club meetings, a children's corner, shared dining, or smaller family celebrations. An adjacent kitchenette is available to both the staff and the patient or their loved ones, allowing for personal meal preparation.