Hospice ready to break ground
Announcement comes after over a decade of fundraising and planning for Kentville project
The first hospice in Nova Scotia will break ground this spring after more than a decade of community fundraising and planning.
Planning for the Kentvillebased project officially began in 2005, when the Valley Hospice Foundation officially teamed up with the then-Annapolis Valley District Health Authority.
After so many years, three women who were involved with the project from the very beginning — Dale Sanford, executive director of the Valley Hospice Foundation; Diana Patterson, chairwoman of the Valley Hospice Foundation; and Fern Brydon, the manager of hospice and palliative care in the Annapolis Valley for the health authority — are each thrilled to have reached this final stage.
“It’s a sense of relief. We can now break the rear-view mirror and start looking ahead,” said Sanford.
Designed to feel like home
The Valley Hospice Foundation teamed up with the thenAnnapolis Valley District Health Authority in 2005 to begin planning for a modern hospice and palliative care centre on-site at the hospital.
With construction beginning this spring, the foundation will aim to have the facility up and running in 2019.
The hospice will sit on the eastern portion of the hospital property, adjacent to Beacon House, but will be a standalone building surrounded by trees.
The hospice will have 10 beds, a shared kitchen space and small, cozy nooks throughout the building, designed to make it feel as close to home as possible, says Brydon.
Each room will also have a door that opens facing the trees, so patients and families can feel like they’re surrounded by nature during their stay, along with furniture that can be adapted to their taste.
The $3.8 million for the hospice’s construction was raised locally by the foundation. While ownership and operations of the facility will be with the NSHA once the building is complete, the foundation will continue to assist in various ways and support the community.
“Staff and volunteers will be at an adequate but modest number, so patients are able to form relationships that are so vital at that stage,” said Brydon.
“We want to create an environment that makes people feel like they’re home.”
‘Waiting a long time’
Patterson, Brydon and Sanford are each looking forward to the project’s completion so needs for end of life care can finally be met in the Annapolis Valley region.
“The community has been waiting a long time for this,” said Patterson.
Planning will continue as the facility is built, to ensure it meets every standard.
“We’re proud to have contributed to this,” said Brydon.
Prior to this hospice’s conception, no standards for hospices existed within Nova Scotia, so the foundation codified a list of criteria that have now become the provincial standard.
“You have to account for every square foot, every little space,” said Patterson.
The foundation’s annual charity walk will be held again this year on May 6, with registration starting in February.
Organizers are hoping to vary the route slightly so that, conditions permitting, it will end at the new hospice location.
It’ll be an even happier occasion than normal, says Patterson, since people will be able to see where the facility will stand, and the option it affords the community.
“Most people would rather die at home, but that wasn’t always possible. This new facility will give patients and their families a choice where there wasn’t one before,” said Patterson. “They will be able to be at peace, surrounded by loved ones.”