First residential hospice in Greater Moncton set to begin construction in April
Ceremonial sod-turning an emotional moment for people who worked to get hospice built
Hospice Southeast New Brunswick held a ceremonial sod-turning at the site of its $5 million residential hospice on Thursday, despite some frigid temperatures.
"I'm already overwhelmed today and it's just the shovel," said Dr. Janice Cormier, a general practitioner who works in oncology at the Dr. Georges-L. Dumont University Hospital Centre.
Cormier is also co-chair of the Celebration Capital Campaign, which is raising money for the new hospice.
The bilingual 10-bed hospice, the first for southeastern New Brunswick, is scheduled to open in late 2020 and will include a pediatric palliative care bed.
The federal and provincial governments have already pledged $2 million to the project, which is expected to be completed by next fall.
Cormier said there are many services to help end-of-life patients, but there is also a gap, which a hospice can help fill.
"It alleviates the burden of being the caregiver to the family, " she said. "This way they're not the caregivers. They can accompany their family and their loved ones and be there for their support but not necessarily be the caregiver and that's a relief, just not for the patient, but for families as well."
The hospice will be built on 2.2 hectares donated by the Hum-Lew-Sun Lions Club on Pleasant Street in Moncton's Lewisville area.
Pegs are in the ground on site, showing the outline of the planned building.
Dennis Cochrane, chair of the board of directors of Hospice Southeast New Brunswick, said that despite the ceremonial shovels in the ground on Thursday, construction won't start until April.
Cochrane, who co-chair of the capital campaign, said the hospice will include private rooms, a common bathing facility, meditation room, sun room, kitchen, garden, covered deck and even a pet station.
Fundraising is going well, he said.
"You know it's hard to get excited about building a place for people to die, but the reality is this is meant to be somewhere if you're not home … you're going to feel like you're at home. Their loved ones will have a place to visit, a place to stay.
"They'll be looked after by professional staff and [in] a beautiful environment."
Cochrane said the organization is also looking at setting up a foundation to help run the hospice once it's built.
If everything goes according to plan, the hospice would be ready to welcome its first client in November 2020.