Trillium House in Marquette will open its doors to the public from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursday. The eight-room nonprofit hospice house is located at 1144 Northland Drive. (Courtesy photo)

MARQUETTE — Trillium House will open its doors Thursday, offering the public a chance to tour the eight-room nonprofit hospice house before it officially starts operations in July.

The project has been in the planning and construction stages for more than five years.

“(Trillium House) is built just for hospice patients when they can’t stay at home anymore,” Executive Director Pat Bray said. “It provides residents with a home and all that comes along with living in a home.”

Bray said the facility is an alternative to going to a hospital or nursing home to continue hospice care. Trillium House does not provide medical care, rather the patient’s current medical team can come directly to the patient at Trillium House to provide care.

Trillium House is located at 1144 Northland Drive, Marquette, and the open house will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Attendees will go on self-guided tours and have the opportunity to learn more about the missions of the organization.

“Come see the house and get a better understanding that hospice isn’t about dying, it’s about living each day,” Bray said.

Trillium House staff will assist with personal daily care, meals, medications, laundry and housekeeping, according to a press release. They will do the tasks that any family member could do for patients, Bray said, with the goal of completing all daily care needs so residents and their loved ones can focus on being together at the end of life.

“Caring for a dying loved one like this is a 24-hour-a-day job. For many people there just aren’t enough family and friends around to help,” Trillium House board President Aaron Scholnik said in the press release. “It can get overwhelming pretty fast.”

Residents will have private rooms with large windows providing views of gardens and nature, an accessible bathroom, a large kitchen and dining room, a lounge and other quiet spaces both indoors and outdoors.

Trillium House will also provide short-term care to give families and caregivers time to relax and catch up on work.

This organization in Marquette will provide the central Upper Peninsula with a hospice house by joining similar facilities in Houghton and Sault Ste. Marie.

“So many have given of themselves, of their time and their gifts, it’s really exciting and humbling that this much-needed home will be opening soon,” Scholnik said.

Sophie Hillmeyer can be contacted at 906-228-2500, ext. 254.