A capital campaign has been launched to build a residental hospice in southeastern New Brunswick. (Tara Clow)
A five million dollar capital campaign has been launched to help build the first residential Hospice complex in Southeast New Brunswick.
The 11,700 square foot building will be built on 2.2 hectares of land on Pleasant Street in Moncton.
Chair of the Board of Directors of Hospice Southeast New Brunswick Dennis Cochrane is optimistic, it will be up and running by next year, “I am hoping that the fundraising campaign will be in a good place come fall. I would like to put the footings in the ground in October, cover them and for springtime we will be able to do the construction very quickly.”
The Hospice will include 10 private patient rooms, four family rooms, a garden and covered decks, meditation room, commercial kitchen, dining room, large sunroom, children’s play area, offices for medical and Hospice SENB staff and volunteers, on site-laundry facilities as well as a boardroom.
Patients will be referred to the residential hospice from home via New Brunswick’s Extra-Mural program.
Cochrane says his hope is to see the facility open in Fall of 2020.
“We do feel if our project is successful it will relieve some of the pressure in our two regional hospitals and at other hospitals in the region,” Cochrane says.
He adds that Saint John has had a Hospice for a number of years, Fredericton and Miramichi is in the process, but Southeast New Brunswick hasn’t had that, “It is one more thing that we need to add to the, sounds strange, but the quality of life, but death is part of life.”
Meantime, Moncton Southwest MLA Sherry Wilson announced a $1 million dollar contribution to the campaign, coming from the Regional Development Corporation.
It is conditional upon the federal government matching the funds.
“We’re expecting the same amount from the federal government, which I’m sure won’t be an issue. We’re hoping that is going to be announced soon,” Wilson says.
She adds, “We were able to keep our mother at home, and it was a lot of work and a lot of care, but we had a lot of support there. Not everyone can do that. People needs to spend their end of life with dignity and compassion. This project will provide that.”
