Set to be the first of its kind in Newfoundland and Labrador, the proponents behind the Lionel Kelland Hospice in Grand Falls-Windsor want to make sure the facility will offer everything needed for patients as they move through the final stages of life.
The first step is to re-design the facility to meet those needs.
A tireless fundraising campaign that netted $880,000 and the recent announcement of $3 million in provincial government funding will allow the work to begin.
Right now the building looks much like it did a couple of years ago when it was owned by the Presentation Sisters.
The group will hang on to some items while most of the contents of the building are earmarked for donation or have already been donated to local goodwill centres.
“We’re very excited,” said Lionel Kelland Hospice board of directors chairman Allan Bradley of the move to the design and construction stage for this project.
It has taken six years for the board to reach its goal. Bradley came on board around 2013 and helped create a strategic plan for the project, and a vision for palliative care.
“The work has really just begun,” Bradley told The Central Voice. “We all have the same vision.
Once the building is renovated, each of the 10 rooms will have a pullout couch for family members, a cuddle bed, a television and a full bathroom. There is a model room set up at the Lionel Kelland Hospice.
Bradley and the rest of the board have reached out to hospices in other provinces to get a sense of what is being done elsewhere and what works.
In Grand Falls-Windsor, the plan is to also have bereavement counselling services on site for families, a pharmacy, ecumenical services, cafeteria, library and a space where family can stay with their loved ones.
“We don’t just care for the patients,” said Bradley. “Whatever a family needs, we’re going to do our very best to ensure it is there.
“We’re going to do it right.”
The Hospice committee is hopeful the building will be renovated and ready for use by the end of 2020.
