A $25,000 gift from Yellowstone County has brought to $1.25 million the amount raised for an inpatient hospice center in Billings.

RiverStone Health needs $2.5 million for the 12-bed facility, which it plans to build next year on the campus of St. John's Lutheran Ministries.

"It is very important for us to be aware of and be able to honor the wishes of the dying," said Lil Anderson, RiverStone's chief executive officer. "We're trying to be prepared to take care of you and your family."

Yellowstone County commissioners presented Anderson with a $25,000 check during a brief ceremony at Lillis Chapel Tuesday.

RiverStone's hospice home will be located across the road from the chapel on a plot of land the organization is leasing for $1 a year from St. John's and St. Vincent Healthcare.

It will be modeled after the St. John's cottages, which offer long-term care in a homelike setting.

Hospice is palliative care for people who are dying. It also guides family members through the dying process and can be provided in a patient's home or in a medical facility.

"There is not one person across Yellowstone County who hasn't ... gone through some end-of-life passing that affected them or their family," Yellowstone County Commissioner Bill Kennedy said during the ceremony. "So many families will be served."

The new hospice facility will offer more intensive services than are available at RiverStone's Horizon Home in the Heights. Although the seven-bed Horizon Home offers end-of-life care, it is possible for a patient to become too sick to remain there, Anderson said.

RiverStone Health's hospice program was formerly called Big Sky Hospice and serves about 500 families a year.

Contact Diane Cochran at dcochran@billingsgazette.

com or 657-1287.