Kirkland palliative-care residence expands facility
Françoise Vien stood quietly at the back of the crowd and smiled. It was the official groundbreaking ceremony for a 30,000-sq.-ft. expansion of the West Island Palliative Care Residence in Kirkland.
Vien smiled because she counted among the more than 15,000 families, members who have experienced the kindness of the staff at the palliative-care facility since it opened as a nine-bed facility in 2002 and added 14 beds in 2012.
Viens’ husband, Paul, was diagnosed with acute leukemia on April 1, 2014, just shy of his 80th birthday. He was discharged from the hospital on a Thursday afternoon and died at the palliative-care residence the following day with his wife and three children by his side — 10 days after the diagnosis.
“We weren’t here for long,” Vien said. “A doctor told us he had seen this happen so many times. (The patient) becomes so comfortable in the surroundings, he just relaxes and slips away. I just wish everybody could have the opportunity and privilege to spend their end of days here.”
At the Friday event, political commentator and former MNA Yolande James introduced the various dignitaries who had played significant roles in the push to get the expansion underway. Each one acknowledged the tireless leadership of WIPCR executive director Teresa Dellar, who co-founded the residence with former Liberal MNA Russell Williams. Dellar wore a bright pink hard hat topped with a miniature tiara.
“I love pink, and I love the monarchy,” she said with a laugh.
Dellar spoke of the importance of the major expansion. “Only 30 per cent of Canadians have access to palliative care. That is unacceptable,” she said. “We are pushing, bit by bit, to be able to offer access to palliative care to 100 per cent of the people in the West Island.”
The expansion will bring the WIPCR’s 23 beds under one roof. The residence currently splits its care between a facility on Stillview Ave. in Pointe-Claire and the Kirkland facility on André-Brunet St. The expansion will be built on land donated by the Lakeshore Hospital Foundation. A $12.5-million capital campaign was launched in April to finance the construction as well as the installation of the newly-minted Montreal Institute for Palliative Care.
The institute’s mandate is to further research in the field as well as help spread the knowledge and training necessary to bring palliative care to Canadians coast to coast. To date, $7.5 million has been raised.
After the groundbreaking ceremony, Vien headed out to do her weekly volunteer shift at the Stillview facility.
After her husband died, she participated in the residence’s eightweek bereavement-support-group program. She began volunteering two years ago.
To learn more about the WIPCR and the capital campaign, visit residencesoinspalliatifs.com.