GET OUT THE RIBBON.
The Hospice Huntsville residence will officially open in January.
Alison Brownlee
HUNTSVILLE – Hospice Huntsville’s major construction project is almost done.
The palliative care organization will officially open the doors of its new five-bed residential hospice for a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday, Jan. 4, at 11 a.m.
The organization has been planning for the residential hospice for about four years. It launched its public capital campaign in August 2010 and announced the build would cost about $1.6 million.
The project came in under budget because of donations, said Hospice Huntsville president Dr. Deb Harrold.
“To date we are at our construction budget without using any of our contingency,” said Harrold. “We have not calculated all of the in-kind trade donations which will allow us to effectively come under budget.”
Hospice Huntsville received $500,000 from FedNor, $200,000 from the District Municipality of Muskoka, and thousands in in-kind and monetary donations for the project. Harrold said the organization has raised $1.4 million so far.
Hospice Huntsville estimates the facility’s annual operating expenses at $765,000. Though the North Simcoe Muskoka Local Health Integration Network will provide $465,000 annually in operating funding, there will be an estimated $300,000 funding shortfall each year.
The residence is funded separately from the hospital.
According to Hospice Huntsville, the 4,960-square-foot residential hospice will include five private, furnished rooms with ensuite washrooms, a large family room, kitchen facilities, a dining room, a library, outdoor patios and gardens, and hospice offices.
At the public capital campaign launch last year, Harrold spoke about the need for a residential hospice in the area.
“Part of great end-of-life care in Huntsville is the ability to provide someone’s setting of choice for their dying journey,” said Harrold.
Harrold said 24-hour care from family members is not always possible, and sometimes home-care providers in a person’s home are prevented from administering the most effective care. Also, hospitals are cure-based, whereas the hospice residence would be focused on end-of-life care for people with terminal illnesses, she said.
“That’s exactly why the residential hospice would be the perfect setting of choice,” she said.
Harrold said the average stay in the residence would be about 21 days.
“We’re talking about a very specific population of people in their last weeks of life,” she said. “There will be times where people are on a wait list, in that they aren’t in that final stage of their life, and they will be supported and moved into the residential facility at the most appropriate time.”
The palliative care organization will operate the residence in addition to the services it already provides.
The land for the residential hospice is leased from Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare and sits adjacent to Huntsville District Memorial Hospital on Howland Drive.
The ribbon cutting ceremony will include light refreshments and tours of the facility until 2 p.m. Open house tours will also be held on Thursday, Jan. 5 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The residential hospice will welcome residents and their caregivers starting Jan. 12.