Halifax hospice starting to take shape

Halifax's first residential hospice is beginning to take shape in the city's south end with a stair case and an elevator shaft now visible from the street.

The hospice is ontrack to open in late 2018 and will serve as a home for people who are terminally ill. About 200 participants in Halifax Hospice's annual Hospice Hikeheld Sunday had an opportunity to get a closer look at the work on the building so far.

"Amazing, emotional in a way," said Betty Morton, as she looked at the site during the hike. "I find it quite emotional to think that we're going to finally have a hospice here."

Morton, of Eastern Passage, N.S., has been involved with the hospice work since 2001. She served on the board of theHospiceSociety of Greater Halifax for nine years and now volunteers.

"When we started, we had nothing ... We only had a laptop and two file folders of files and we had about $14,000 in the bank. To think we have gotten this far is fantastic," she said.

Community consultation report

Hospice Halifax released its community consultation report which outlinedwhat people want the hospice to look like on the inside.

"A lot of people focused on what kind of atmosphere we would create within hospice so that was really illustrated as a place that would be welcoming, very homelike, a place that people would feel comfortable and receive privacy and peace in terms of their end-of-life needs," saidLinden Hardie, social work co-ordinator for Hospice Halifax.

Some tangible ideas, she said, included suggestions like having beds large enough to fit a loved one, being able to have pets visitand getting a haircut or massage at the hospice.

The report also noted the importance of havingstaff and volunteers who areknowledgeable about cultural considerations.

Hospice wishlist

During the hike Sunday, which raised about75 per cent of the organization's$50,000 goal, participants also spoke about things they would want the hospice to include.

"I hope that they're going to do assisted dying, but I actually just want to see people have a better quality of life at the end," said Angela Smith, a Dartmouth resident whose sister-in-law is on the hospice board.

Ed Thornhill, Smith's husband, said he wants to see people enjoy the things they love at the hospice.

"Whether it's art, music, pets all of those things, creating the environment to accommodate those things," he said.

Smith said a hospice would have been a great option for her father who passed away in 2001.

"He was in and out of the hospital a lot in the last year of his life and constantly in the hospital for the last four or five months of this life," Smith said.

"To have some place like this would have been so much more certain. There was so much uncertainty when he was in the hospital because he held on longer than they originally thought."

Morton echoed that sentiment. She saida hospice in Halifax is "long overdue."

"I think we desperately need a hospice. Because there are people dying in [hospital] hallways," she said.

"There's limited resources for them in the hospitals now. There is a palliative care unit, but it's still not the same as dying in your home and most people want to stay home but it's not always easy to do that."

Morton said she hopes the hospice will be a community venture.

"I think everyone should support it because everybody is going to have the opportunity to make use of this at some point in their life, whether for them or for somebody else," Morton said.

RobinMacInnis, a Halifax resident, took part in the hike after reading about it in the newspaper.

"I'm hoping that this hospice willprovidethe respectful and caring environment people need in the last days on their lives,"shesaid.