Hope’s Home aims to bring medically inclusive child-care centre to Saskatoon

A fundraiser is underway in Saskatoon to create a medically inclusive child-care centre in the city through Hope’s Home.

The There’s No Place Like Hope Campaign aims to generate $8 million for the centre in 2024.

Jacqueline Tisher, the founder and CEO of Hope’s Home, said the inspiration behind all this work is the kids.

“It started off first because of my own children, having a child with complex medical needs,” Tisher said.

Tisher’s daughter Acacia lived in and out of the hospital and died at the age of 18.

Tisher was inspired to become a foster mom after seeing children live their whole lives in the hospital in her experience being a pediatric and neonatal intensive care nurse.

“I fostered a little girl named Hope and she became part of our family, and so that is what really birthed what Hope’s Home is today.”

She said medical advancements have created a space for kids with complex medical needs to live at home, but said we haven’t caught up in the community.

“Families find themselves in a situation where they’re having to be the nurse, the physiotherapist, the occupational speech therapist at home, and oftentimes they end up losing their jobs because they are not able to work.”

She said families in those situations are often left broken, saying about 80 per cent of their parents are divorced.

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The centre will be divided into two locations that will take care of 144 kids between the ages of six weeks and six years old.

Spaces will be held for kids with complex medical needs.

There will be on-site nursing care, early childhood educators, developmental workers and physical development consultants.

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Affinity Credit Union donated $250,000 to the cause to fund an inclusive indoor gym at the centre.

“Affinity heard the Hope’s Home story, listened to parents and recognized the need for medically inclusive child care in our communities. We are excited to partner with them to bring this need to Saskatoon and strengthen our cause to care for the most vulnerable children,” Tisher said.

“Hope’s Home is truly a one-of-a-kind organization. It has become an integral part of several Saskatchewan communities. Its expansion into another area in our province means they’ll not only provide more support to children with complex medical needs, but also to their families,” said Mark Lane, CEO of Affinity Credit Union.

“We’ve partnered with Hope’s Home since its inception because the medically inclusive child-care gap they’ve filled is what supporting local is all about.”

Hope’s Home has been working in other communities across Saskatchewan like Regina, Warman and Prince Albert.