Concordia Hospice of Washington Donnell House closes
For nearly 25 years, Concordia Hospice of Washington Donnell House has helped patients and their families through life’s hardest moments.
Now, the hospice facility in Washington has closed its doors.
“Concordia Hospice of Washington can confirm that inpatient hospice services are no longer being provided at the Donnell House,” the company said in a statement. “This change reflects a continuing decline in the need for inpatient hospice care as more patients and families choose to receive hospice services in the comfort of home, supported by advances in community-based care.”
The hospice team continues to provide in-home care and support to patients and families throughout the region, according to a spokesman.
It has not had patients since early July.
The eight-bed hospice provided end-of-life care, as well as respite care.
The news came as a shock to families whose loved ones had stayed at Donnell House for end-of-life care.
“When I heard it was closing, it made me feel a world of emotions,” said Sierra Ealy, whose mother, Elizabeth Amos Ealy, passed away at the Donnell House in 2008, at the age of 32 following a battle with cervical and breast cancer.
Sierra Ealy was 10 years old when her mother died. Her grandfather, Ralph Ealy, also stayed at the Donnell House before he passed in 2017.
“I am so sad to see it close down. Some of the nurses there have become like family to me since my mom passed. Everyone there did amazing work for the families whose loved ones were there. My mother’s brick is still there in the garden, and I have memories of walking through that garden on so many days when I needed to be close to her.”
One of those nurses who cared for Ealy’s mother was Jamie Garber, a licensed practical nurse who has worked at Donnell House, with the exception of a year or so, since it opened. Liz Ealy and Garber had become friends at Trinity High School, and Sierra Ealy and Garber have remained close since Ealy passed away.
“This is hard not only for the families who have had loved ones here, but for the ones who work there, too,” said Ealy. “It’s difficult. It takes a super special person to take care of somebody who’s sick and dying.”
Becca Babeji, a former in-patient aide at Donnell House, said the closing “breaks my heart.”
“There is no kind of care like the care provided in hospice care and the Donnell House. People who work there have such compassion,” said Babeji, whose father-in-law, George Babeji, spent his final days in the Donnell House in January. “The physical and emotional support we got there was incredible. My father-in-law was the best person who would do anything for anybody, and everyone there was so supportive.”
The Donnell House, named for its benefactors, Richard and Shana Donnell, opened in January 2002.
Shana Donnell had a personal experience with hospice in Ohio, where Shana’s father received inpatient care at a similar facility, and the couple wanted to bring a similar level of care to Southwestern Pennsylvania.
They donated $1 million to the Washington Hospital for the residential hospice facility, and more than 3,000 other donors raised an additional $2.2 million.
In July 2016, the hospice center was renamed Concordia Hospice of Washington Donnell House.
It is not known what the plans are for the building, which also houses a medical group.
In its statement, Concordia wrote, “The Donnell House has been a sacred place for so many families, and we are profoundly grateful for every caregiver, volunteer and community partner who helped make it a place of comfort and peace. While inpatient services at the Donnell House are no longer being provided, our mission remains unchanged. We will continue walking alongside patients and families with compassion, dignity and clinical excellence, ensuring they receive the care and support they need wherever they call home.”
Rob McIlvaine, a funeral director at McIlvaine-Speakman Funeral Home, has had both a professional and personal relationship with the hospice house, said the hospice house has been integral to people who have end-of-life care needs who are not able to be at home, and he is hoping that it continues to operate as a hospice care facility.
“I think it’s a community asset as much as anything, and it’s a shame for it to close. I think if there is some way that it could survive, it should, so that the community will continue to have access to compassionate end-of-life support when they need it most,” said McIlvaine, whose parents, Lois and Chick McIlvaine, spent their last days at the hospice home in March of 2020 and January of 2021. “There’s a special place in heaven for the people who are working there. They know the situation of the people who are there and the families who come in with them, and they made us feel so comfortable and helped us in whatever ways we needed help. I don’t think you get that really anywhere.”
Clara Jean Thomas of Washington was so moved with the care her husband, Bill, who died in 2013, and her mother, who passed away in 2014, received during their last days that she worked as a volunteer there afterward.
“The care they received was phenomenal. Thy were so good to us, and so good to Bill and my mom. I felt like I had a responsibility to give back because of all they did for us,” Thomas said.
Each year, the hospice hosted an annual butterfly release, a public ceremony where community members gathered to honor, remember, and celebrate the lives of loved ones who passed away.
Terry Yandrich said her mother, Patricia Yandrich, spent four days at the Donnell House before she passed away on Apri 27, 2025, at the age of 93.
Yandrich said her mother had fallen the week before, and credited Garber for helping to get her mother into the Donnell House from the hospital emergency room.
“They were amazing, Jamie was amazing. The nurses came in and explained everything as to how the process would work and the changes she would be going through at the end. There was so much support,” said Yandrich, of Cecil Township. “It was amazing, too, to sit in the room with my mother and to look outside to the garden. I can’t say enough about how helpful that was to me and my family to know my mother was getting such good care in such a beautiful and peaceful environment. I am so disappointed to hear that it’s going to be closing. It’s going to be a big loss to the community and the families that have been there.”
Concordia Hospice of Washington said it will continue providing comprehensive hospice services throughout the region, including access to all four Medicare hospice levels of care, according to the company’s spokesman. When general inpatient hospice care is medically necessary, patients will continue to receive care through established partnerships with local health care providers.