AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A hospice nurse is opening Augusta’s first inpatient hospice home, giving families a new option for end-of-life care.

Stacia Sirull, a hospice nurse, is opening the Augusta Inpatient Hospice Home. The facility will feature hummingbird decorations throughout.

“My sister passed away a couple of years ago. She died in a hospice house in Kentucky and loved humming birds. When I decided to do this I was like we are just going to put humming birds everywhere,” Sirull said.

Limited options for Augusta families

Augusta families facing end-of-life care currently have limited options. The new facility will serve as an alternative.

“There are many times when I hear I don’t want to die at home. I don’t want leave here and leave the memory of this with my family and don’t want to stay here, or the other way around I don’t want my family member to die at home and have to remember that they were here in this house,” Sirull said.

Sirull said the facility gives people a comfortable option in a homey environment.

“Our slogan is your life, your journey, your choice. The reason we wrote it that way is because I want people to be able to make their own choice at the end of life and have those choices be respected,” she said.

Family shares experience

Krista Weigle’s mother was on hospice in Augusta in 2018. Weigle said her mother began needing more care than she and her sister could provide. Her sister lives in Statesboro, where there is an inpatient hospice home.

“We just felt so blessed to find that place and felt very comfortable with her being there and when she passed we knew we had done the right thing,” Weigle said.

Facility details and community support

The Augusta Inpatient Hospice Home will have six rooms added to the existing building. Sirull said there will always be one bed available for someone who doesn’t have the finances or insurance to cover the stay.

“No one should die alone, no one should die without support in their last days and not just support, but compassionate support,” she said.

Sirull said the community can help by donating hospital beds, blankets, quilts, bedside tables, kitchen items including pots and pans, and personal care items including diapers, wipes and shampoo.

Weigle said she’s happy to know a place she once needed is coming to Augusta.

“My only worry is that it won’t be big enough and once word gets around and people see what need it fills, there will need to be more places like this,” she said.

The Augusta Inpatient Hospice Home is a nonprofit organization set to open May 1.

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D.C.’s thriving restaurant scene took a big hit in 2025, and the head of the city’s restaurant association is warning that 2026 could be another rough year.

A record number of eateries in the city shut down last year, according to the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. President Shawn Townsend said 92 restaurants closed in 2025, up from 73 in 2024, and almost double the number of closings in 2022.

He said it’s no secret why 2025 was such a bad year.

“Tariffs and inflation and other things that impact the industry — the federal workforce, the increase in law enforcement presence,” he said.

Townsend said in order to right the ship for the restaurant industry, the priority of city and government leaders must be to create new jobs in D.C.

“If we don’t find things to replace those bodies, that foot traffic cannot come back,” he said.

Restaurants openings have also slowed, down 30% in 2025, and Townsend said there will likely be fewer openings than normal in 2026. He said the restaurants that do open will not be what we’ve been used to in the thriving D.C. food scene.

“We’ll be seeing less full-service restaurants. It’s that middle market that’s being squeezed right now, and I think if things don’t change, we’ll continue to see that middle market vanish,” Townsend said

Townsend said getting a great meal in D.C. has never been a problem and is hopeful that innovation allows that to continue.

“We’ve got to figure out how to adapt, we’ve been good at adapting for so long. I think this is just one other phase where we all have to figure out how to move forward,” Townsend said.