Hospice House seeking backing from county
Posted By Raymone Bowe
Posted 2 months ago
Hospice Simcoe will ask Simcoe County councillors today for a five-year, $200,000 pledge to help the 10-bed residential facility.
If county councillors approve the million-dollar request, Simcoe County will have the opportunity to name the approximately $7-million hospice facility.
"We appreciative that a lot of municipalities have high needs across the province this year, but we hope council can do whatever they can do," said Faith Orlando, Hospice Simcoe's resource development manager.
Capital campaign chairman Jim McIntosh, who's also past president with Hospice Simcoe, and Kate Root, chief executive officer for the North Simcoe Palliative Network, will make the 10-minute presentation. It will include a video featuring a tour of the house and other key information.
Hospice Simcoe, located at 336 Penetanguishene Rd., near Royal Victoria Hospital, is scheduled to open Dec. 1.
Hospices provide end-of-life care. For more than two decades, hundreds of Hospice Simcoe volunteers have provided dying people in the community with compassionate care through in-home visits and community groups for their families.
The service means no one in Simcoe County dies, or suffers the loss of a loved one, alone.
Eighteen months ago, organizers broke ground to build the county's first free-standing residential hospice, which is being built in an area that is expected to see a 2.6% increase in population in the next two decades.
RVH statistics for 2006-07 show it has 400 palliative care cases annually, resulting in 300 deaths. That represents 16 hospital beds. The daily cost of a hospital bed is $800, compared to $400 for a hospice bed.
rbowe@thebarrieexaminer.com
