This year, Circle of Life is celebrating 25 years of service to the Northwest Arkansas community. Our organization has served more patients and families facing the end of life than ever before in our history. Thank you for partnering with us to ensure that our community has a vital and enduring hospice program.
Circle of Life Hospice began in December of 1992 when it was licensed as a part of Communities Home Health Care. It operated under the auspices of Springdale Memorial Hospital. Twenty patients were on the program and divestiture from the hospital was being discussed.
In March of 2000 Circle of Life became the area’s only nonprofit free-standing hospice program in Northwest Arkansas.
The first fundraiser was held in November 2001 with over 800 guests in attendance. Mrs. Bernice Jones offered to donate three acres of land in Har-Ber Meadows and in March of 2004 a ground dedication was held where the first free-standing inpatient hospice home would be built. Circle of Life moved into the Willard and Pat Walker Family Center at 901 Jones Road in Springdale in August of 2005 and admitted the first two patients into the hospice home in December of 2005.
As community awareness increased, it became evident that Circle of Life needed to expand its service by providing a hospice home in Benton County. In September of 2009, Circle of Life received approval from the state and announced its public phase of a comprehensive capital campaign, “Partners…in Expanding the Circle” with a goal of $15,000,000.
Circle of Life opened a temporary eight-bed inpatient home in an assisted living home at Legacy Village to begin care for patients in Benton County. In November of 2011, we broke ground on a permanent 24-bed inpatient hospice home and celebrated its opening in March of 2013.
Since 1992, Circle of Life Hospice has provided care to thousands of patients and their families. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary we are extremely proud of what we have accomplished and humbled by the lives that we have touched.