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Provincial penny pinching has pressured North Bay’s hospital into shuffling beds with an eye to making room to possibly rent the space to the future local hospice.
North Bay Regional Health Centre (NBRHC) President and CEO Paul Heinrich is hopeful that North Bay's future hospice finds a place in the hospital, and has offered space to Nipissing Serenity Hospice.
Heinrich says that a formal request from the North East Local Health Integration Network, has the hospital and the Nipissing Serenity Hospice conducting a joint business plan to evaluate the pros and cons of having the hospice in the hospital building.
“With a reduction of about 30 beds so far in the current hospital realignment plan involving 59 beds, there is space to be repurposed. Partnering with the Nipissing Serenity Hospice is offering good community service with quiet, natural surroundings,” added Heinrich.
But the chairperson of the Nipissing Serenity Hospice, Mathilde Bazinet, is not sure the idea will be accepted by the hospice board members.
Bazinet says three community groups have been very active in fundraising for the North Bay hospice.
She names the Davedi Club, I.O.D.E. and the Knights of Columbus.
“The reaction couldn’t be more negative,” Bazinet adds. “Many donors are threatening to take back their money if the NBRHC is involved."
“The hospital wants us to pay $205,000 dollars of rent per year. And then we would have to renovate the unit offered for the hospice. And we are responsible for the operating costs. The necessary funds must all be fundraised.”
The province will only give funding for nurses and personal support workers for patient care.
With an expected bill for the construction of the new hospice at $5.5 million dollars, Bazinet says there are very generous donors willing to help if the setting is right.
Currently the board is mulling over an offer of property on the North Bay escarpment.
“People who have given a substantial amount of money toward the building fund have hopes for a setting that is not at the hospital.” Bazinet explained.
“Often these financial donors have a personal experience that drives them to give money toward a hospice with a more independent setting. They may have lost someone close, while a patient at the hospital, and wished that there had been a peaceful setting for the end-of-life for their loved one.“
The Nipissing Serenity Hospice Board of Directors will vote on the matter at the next board meeting slated for December.
