The North Shore Hospice will soon offer even more supports for people requiring end-of-life care, with a $2-million expansion announced this week that is meant to turn the facility into a central point for palliative treatment.
Upgrades planned for the hospice include a new outpatient clinic that will allow easier access to palliative care doctors and a permanent home for the Every Day Counts program, which helps boost quality of life for patients by providing various non-medical supports.
Expansion of the hospice, which was announced at the facility Tuesday, is a major step toward ensuring more North Shore residents can deal with life-limiting illness as effectively and comfortably as possible.
“People facing serious illness need different kinds of support at different times, but they all need that support,” said Dr. Peter Edmunds, regional director of home, community and palliative care for Vancouver Coastal Health. “If we get our arms around patients earlier in their journey, earlier in their illness, then you can provide them with support that helps them make better choices and makes it less difficult and less frightening to go through.”
Edmunds sees the upgraded facility as being able to provide a “seamless transition” between regular, hospice and end-of-life care. The expansion is expected to be complete by December 2017.
The outpatient clinic will provide an alternative to family doctor or emergency room visits, connecting patients directly with the North Shore Palliative Care Physician Team. The clinic will also allow for the team of doctors to interact with patients who are unable to travel to the facility via video link.
The Everyday Counts Program’s wide range of offerings includes wellness activities like yoga and music therapy, but also personal counselling and advice with complex issues such as navigating the health-care system. Jo-Ann Wood, chair of the North Shore Hospice and Palliative Project, is thrilled all of that programming will soon be housed under one roof.
“Up to this point, we’ve been operating the Every Day Counts Program off the side of peoples’ desks. We didn’t have a co-ordinator, we used church basements and various places around the community,” said Wood. “Now, we’ll have a central place where people can come.”
The North Shore Hospice and Palliative Project, which is a partnership between the hospice society and the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation, already has more than half the necessary funds to complete the expansion, thanks to $1 million leftover with the foundation from initial fundraising efforts prior to the hospice’s 2010 opening. A further $200,000 has been donated privately and a fundraising campaign has kicked off to pay for the rest.
More than 1,200 people have passed away at the 15-bed hospice since it first opened, helping patients – and their families – live their final days with as much comfort and dignity as possible.
That was the experience for Karen Tregillas, whose father, Henry, was a patient at the hospice last winter. Although Henry was battling cancer, he was able to enjoy greater privacy, a Christmas dinner and unlimited visitation with family, Karen recalled at Tuesday’s expansion announcement.
“We had many precious moments together … it was just an incredible place to be,” she said. “My wish is that, if and when needed, more people will be able to access this incredible place and amazing people that care.”
