Hospice in Fredericton ready to provide palliative care

The second residential hospice in the Maritimes is almost ready to open its doors in Fredericton.

The former Rosary House has been renovated to create Hospice Fredericton as a place of comfort for people who are dying.

"It's a home away from home, " said hospice president Daryl Branscombe, "I'm so proud. It's like an artist if you take something from nothing and create something. And that's the feeling I have." 

Hospice will have beds for people who are sick and it will also run an adult day program to provide relief to people caring for their loved ones at home. 

"This is the place where people can bring their loved ones for the day or for a week and we'll look after them," said Branscombe.

The hospice project is a personal one for Branscombe who lost his own children to a rare auto-immune disease and they died less than two years apart.

"I would have loved to bring my boys in here to have people look after them. A place where there's comfort and care, compassionate comfort and care," he said.

The community helped raise the money to pay for the $4.5 million to the project, including a $500,000 gift from Rosemary McCain-McMillin.