Caldwell Hospice and Palliative Care and Caldwell Memorial Hospital have been awarded financial grants in the initial phase of Rural Hope, a statewide health care program aimed at improving medical delivery and creating jobs in rural areas.

In a statement, North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue announced $336,000 in funding to Caldwell County from the Golden LEAF Foundation and the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center.

"In many areas of our state, rural hospitals and health care facilities work on tight budgets to serve their communities. Rural Hope will ease the burden by bringing health care and jobs to rural communities across North Carolina," Perdue said.

Caldwell Hospice has been awarded $240,000 from the Rural Center to assist in its $9 million construction projects off Pine Mountain Road in Hudson. One building will house 12 new inpatient beds, while the other facility will be used for staff, chaplains and care providers. Already under construction with a spring completion date, the facilities are expected to create 20 jobs initially.

Cathy Swanson, executive director of Caldwell Hospice, said she credits the Town of Hudson, which authorized pursuit of the grant, for making the funding possible.

"This would not have been possible without Hudson Town Manager Rebecca Bentley and the Town of Hudson working with us on this grant," Swanson said. "We are very grateful.

"This will help us offset some of the construction expense we are incurring and the start-up costs. In these economic times, we are even more grateful for every dollar we receive toward this project."

Swanson said the new facilities will complement Caldwell Hospice's six-bed care center off Kirkwood Street in Lenoir. She stressed the current beds will continue to be used even after the new buildings are finished.

"Our beds (in Lenoir) stay at 100 percent occupancy, and we always have a waiting list," said Swanson, noting that only 10 percent of Hospice centers across the country have inpatient facilities. "We are desperate for more bed space."

Meanwhile, Caldwell Memorial Hospital has been awarded $96,000 from Golden LEAF to develop a diagnostic imaging center and create eight jobs. Though a location of the center has yet to be announced, CMH President and CEO Laura Easton said it will be housed within a medical office building that will include physician practices and be built by a third party.

Easton said the diagnostic center will include x-ray, CT scan, mammography and laboratory services designed to enhance outpatient care and free up resources for the hospital's expanding surgical programs.

"The largest growth area within the hospital is outpatient imaging, and this will give us the ability to grow in a patient-friendly manner," she said. "We're very, very congested in our hospital currently and that constricts our ability to provide good service."

Easton added the diagnostic center will allow outpatients to receive "easy, quick in-and-out" services.

The approximately 40,000-square-foot medical building, 25 percent of which the hospital will utilize for its diagnostic unit, is expected to break ground next spring and be completed in late 2010 or early 2011, according to Easton.

The grant marks the second time in the past 15 months Golden LEAF has assisted CMH. Last year, Golden LEAF awarded the hospital $500,000 as part of the non-profit organization's Community Assistance Initiative.

The hospital used the funding to purchase equipment in order to recruit medical specialists. As a result, CMH was able to successfully recruit physicians who focus on ear, nose and throat, gastroenterology and spinal surgery.

Easton said the hospital originally had worked with the City of Lenoir in applying for a grant through the Rural Center. But after learning the agency had been inundated with requests, the grant application was transferred to Golden LEAF.