Twenty years of experience working with the dying and their families convinced Margaret Kyser there was an important, unmet need in the community for a hospice home. In 2003, that need was realized in the Eaton Community Hospice House, located on South Cochran in Charlotte.

The home, which is 100 percent community supported, is free to patients. It is there for those who have a limited amount of time to live and are in need of extra support and comfort. Over the past 12 months, the hospice house has cared for about 150 patients.

Kyser said she began working with hospice about 20 years ago — having gotten started by lending a hand to a neighbor who was dying. "(The neighbor) kept calling on me to help out. I was happy to, but it was not easy," Kyser said. "I said to my husband, if I live through this, I am going to get some training so I know how to cope with these kinds of situations if I am ever faced with them again."

She did live through the experience and began taking hospice training through an Eaton Rapids Medical Center program for Eaton County volunteers. "At first, I was doing patient care, but then I was asked to join the Eaton Community Hospice board," Kyser said. "I ended up becoming president of the board but continued taking educational classes both at the state and national level."

In 1993, she was offered the paid position of executive director. Eaton Community Hospice continued to offer support services to the medical hospice community. It did not charge for its services, billed no insurance companies and continued to be 100 percent community supported. As the years went by, Kyser said she began to see an increasing need for what was to become the Eaton Community Hospice House.

"I noticed that, more and more, people didn’t have caregivers," Kyser said. "With caregivers having to go out and work, it was becoming more and more difficult to care for their loved ones at home … I really felt a place like (the Hospice House) would be able to solve an unmet need." As the idea for the Hospice House began taking shape, she learned of a nonprofit loan program through the USDA that offered 40-year, low-interest loans. So she got to work.

However, efforts came to a virtual halt when her husband, Carl Kyser, became sick. Carl died of cancer in 2000. "After my husband died, I went back to the USDA and got to work trying to get the mortgage," Kyser said. "It took about two years to get all the paperwork and documentation in place, but in November 2002 we broke ground."

The Eaton Community Hospice House opened in September of 2003. It is 8,000 square-feet and includes a great room, kitchen, quiet room, guest room, five patient rooms, a laundry, three garages and an administrative area. There is also a thrift shop in the basement. Kyser designed much of the home’s interior herself. She said she had envisioned it for so long she knew just what was needed and why. She is especially proud of the patient rooms, which are all uniquely decorated and have large windows overlooking an expansive backyard set against a line of trees and a small pond. The setting is natural and relaxing.

"It is a home," Kyser said. "It is a haven for the terminally ill to come to at the end of life for comfort and care." Kyser emphasized the true "heart" of the home is its volunteers. She said at any given time there are around 150 such volunteers working in virtually infinite ways to contribute to the "haven." "We are all a part of a team," Kyser said. "And we all take such pride in how well we provide service to those who need us."

The organization’s intimate connection to the community it serves was well illustrated when Eaton Community Hospice received the 2005 Governor’s Community Service Award. Kyser said the award was given in recognition of the group’s "utilization of volunteers to provide support within the community."

Eaton Community Hospice’s annual budget is approximately $400,000, and Kyser said all of that comes from the community in a variety of forms. There are eight paid ECH employees — three full-time and five part-time. Everyone else is a volunteer. Many contributions — in terms of money, goods and manpower — come from the family and friends of those who have spent their last days at the home.

"Many of our volunteers say it is a way of giving back," Kyser said. "They came here at one time to visit a loved one and just want to be able to give something back."