New hospice to open in north Waterloo

‘Huge need’ as the region is underserviced

WATERLOO — A new 10-bed hospice is planned for north Waterloo.

Hospice of Waterloo Region bought about five acres of land on University Avenue, across from RIM Park where it will build the centre.

“There’s a huge need, growing need,” said Judy Nairn, executive director. “We’re a very underserviced area now.”

The charitable organization has been providing programs and volunteer services to people living in the community with a lifethreatening illness and to their caregivers and family members for 23 years.

This will be its first residential hospice.

The plan was announced publicly by Waterloo Mayor Dave Jaworsky at his state of the city address on Wednesday morning, hosted by Rotary Waterloo.

“It occurred to me we don’t have a hospice in Waterloo,” Jaworsky told the audience of about 400 at RIM Park.

“You can live your life in Waterloo, but you can’t pass on in Waterloo.”

Hospice beds are in short supply in Waterloo Region. There are two residential hospices: Lisaard House in Cambridge, opened in 2000, and Innisfree House in Kitchener, which opened in 2015. Lisaard is dedicated to cancer patients, while Innisfree is for any palliative diagnosis.

Care at both homes is free, as it will be at the new hospice in Waterloo.

Together, the hospices in Cambridge and Kitchener have 16 beds and long waiting lists. Before Innisfree opened its doors, Lisaard House reported it had turned away more than double the number of people it has cared for since opening because it didn’t have available beds.

A recent study by Hospice Palliative Care Ontario found this region will need 40 residential hospice beds by 2030. Many people in the region who would like to spend their final days in a hospice, instead have no choice but to go to a hospital or stay at home.

“It’s going through the luck of the draw,” Jaworksy said in an interview. “It’s a real strain on the family at a time they can’t afford the strain.”

Hospice of Waterloo Region currently provides free palliative care services in the community and at clinics held in the Kitchener office on Lawrence Avenue.

“The plan is to move everything so we can grow and expand,” Nairn said.

Along with the hospice, the centre will include space for a medical clinic, client programming, volunteer services, education classrooms and administration offices.

The cost of the project is not yet known, Nairn said. “We’re just starting the planning now.”

It will be at least two years before it opens.

“A lot of it will depend on fundraising,” she said.

The province only provides partial funding for bedside care in a hospice, with donations needed to cover the remaining operating costs.

“The rest of it we have to generate through the community. We have to do a lot of fundraising,” Nairn said.

“We’re very hopeful. It’s a very generous community. The city’s been very supportive.”