Whispering Pines Hospice accepted its first patients in 1991 after a committee formed by the bishops of the Catholic, Episcopal, and United Methodist Churches in Mississippi had begun working two years earlier to establish a residential facility for patients who were terminally ill. The Ecumenical Health Care Organization (EHCO), the board of the three-church group, was committed to forming an inpatient hospice so that patients with no family or no home would have a place of comfort in which to spend their final days. The inpatient hospice was located in South Jackson on Raymond Road in a building that originally housed Whispering Pines Nursing Home. When it was initially opened,
WhisperingPines Hospice had 10 beds, but by 1995 the census had increased to 36. Patients were admitted to Whispering Pines if a physician certified that their life expectancy was less than a year. Many HIV/AIDS patients were cared for by the loving staff at Whispering Pines, as other facilities would not accept them. Jean Jones, a member of the EHCO, was the director of Whispering Pines, and Dr. William Causey was appointed Medical Director. Dr. Causey led the 30 member staff and worked diligently to keep the patient’s pain and symptom-free. His tenure extended beyond the time of the merger with Hospice of Central Mississippi to form Hospice Ministries, Inc. Whispering Pines operated as a nonprofit and relied on donations from foundations and individuals to carry out its mission of providing the end-of-life care that these special patients deserved