Virginia-based Blue Ridge Hospice has expanded into Loudoun County in its home state with a de novo office.

In addition to clinical care, the new location will provide grief and bereavement support groups, volunteer training, educational workshops and events as part of Blue Ridge Hospice’s community Grief and Loss Support Services program.

The hospice has also begun to offer inpatient care in the county at Inova Loudoun Hospital.

“As the population in Loudoun County grows and ages, the demand for the trusted expertise and excellent care and services Blue Ridge Hospice provides is increasing,” Cheryl Hamilton Fried, president and CEO of Blue Ridge Hospice, said in a statement. “We are constantly assessing the needs of the communities we serve for serious illness, end-of-life, and grief and bereavement care and we scale our operations accordingly. There clearly is a growing unmet need for the comprehensive care we provide in Loudoun County.”

Nearly a quarter of Virginia’s population will be 60 or older by 2023, according to the Administration for Community Living, a federal agency. Currently, about 15% are in that age group.

Seniors represent 10% of Loudoun County’s population of 432,000, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.

Close to 40,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Virginia elected hospice in 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). California led the nation that year with 156,000.

Fried took the helm at Blue Ridge Hospice in January 2021 and moved quickly to reinforce the non-profit’s marketing and business development operations. Within 18 months of her arrival, Blue Ridge saw its patient census take a 40% leap.

The hospice in late 2022 launched a new palliative care service and a PACE program.

Blue Ridge serves a 2,200-square-mile region that includes urban, suburban and rural communities with an average daily census of roughly 300 patients.

The recent expansion was in part driven by requests for more support from referral sources.

“Health care and senior living providers in Loudoun County long have encouraged Blue Ridge Hospice to grow our capabilities and services in the area,” Blue Ridge Chief Strategy Officer Jason Parsons said. “Our track record of meeting community need, of scoring highest in Virginia on quality measures required by Medicare, speaks for itself. Families want the best for their loved ones, and we agree that everyone deserves to die with dignity and the highest possible level of comfort.”