St. Joseph’s Villa Foundation has launched a fundraising campaign to build a 10-bed hospice in Dundas.
The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has approved funding for six beds but it will be up to the foundation to raise more than $12 million to build the hospice and support the additional four, that in the interim will be used for respite or transitional care.
Foundation president and CEO Maureen Ellis say, it’s a bold undertaking but the demand for end-of-life care is growing.
“Anyone who has six beds right now are all expanding,” she said.
In Hamilton, she points out, the west end has no hospice care whatsoever.
The proposed site for the build is a serene plot of land behind of St. Joseph’s Villa, one of Ontario’s largest long-term care homes.
Ellis says it will be equipped with outreach programs that will provide support from the point of diagnosis.
“If somebody delivers that kind of news to you and you’re thinking you have a year, maybe, you need some support potentially right away, or before you actually need the bed.”
The long-term goal she says is to have a care team so that if the beds fill up, staff can visit those facing an end-of-life illness, in their home, at the bedside.
In the hospice itself, renderings show places for families to stay and private patios where residents can enjoy the flora and fauna.
Dino Trevisani, President of IBM Canada and Chair of the Villa’s campaign, says the understanding of hospice has to start within the community.
“Death touches everybody,” he said.
“If you’re fortunate enough to spend time with your loved one before they go, or yourself, what better place?”
Trevisani says when he was asked to lead the fundraising campaign it was an easy decision having witnessed hospice care first hand, when his sister-in-law was diagnosed with cancer.
“It created so much serenity and peace through that journey and time of acceptance, prayer and time together in an environment that felt like home.”
The foundation expects to open the hospice in 2019.
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