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Monday, December 1, 2008
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Hospice Society needs your help for expansion |
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Written by Citizen Staff
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Sunday, 05 October 2008 |
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NORTHERN HEALTHPRINCE GEORGE HOSPICE SOCIETY
The society is halfway toward its goal of raising $2.2 million for an expansion that will double the number of beds at Rotary Hospice House to 10.
It is an ambitious project that will add almost 7,000 square feet of space. The existing five bedrooms will be renovated for storage, a meeting room and a quiet room, plus a lounge, expanded kitchen and visitors' waiting room.
Ten new bedrooms will be constructed, each with its own bathroom, ceiling lift, thermostat and space for two family members to sleep.
The campaign is receiving no financial aid from governments, so the society is calling on local residents to rally behind the cause.
The fact is the average citizen isn't aware of what hospice provides and how irreplaceable it is until someone close is in need of end-of-life care.
For 14 years Rotary Hospice House has provided peace, comfort, compassion and the royal treatment to guests in the final stages of life and their families
For 14 years the society has struggled to pay the bills.
The expansion is overdue because five beds isn't enough to meet demand, which means people who should be in hospice are in hospital beds that could be freed up for use by other patients.
Unfortunately, government funding of Rotary Hospice House has never reflected its importance.
Northern Health currently provides $675,000 a year to the hospice society, which represents 52 per cent of its operating budget.
When the expansion is complete, Northern Health will commit $812,000 a year, but that will represent only 47 per cent of the society's higher operating costs. That means the society will have to spend even more time focusing on fundraising rather than its raison d'etre -- care for the dying.
Rotary Hospice House is a pioneer in B.C. as the first stand-alone hospice in the province. The 12-bed facility in Vernon, modeled after this one, receives $1 million a year from the Interior Health Authority, as does the 12-bed hospice in Kamloops.
There is no doubt Northern Health should be providing a larger share of Rotary Hospice House's budget. There is value for taxpayers, too, because operating a bed at the Clapperton Street facility is one-third that of a hospital bed, according to the society.
It's time the province's health authorities in general began regarding hospice care as a necessary and cost-saving component of the entire health-care system.
-- Editor Dave Paulson
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 05 October 2008 )
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Looks like we will get a reprieve from the telemarketers, only to have store after store we shop in trying to embarrass us into parting with a bit of cash.
I am paying higher prices for my groceries on average, and then the cashiers are informed they are to solicit money for charities.
Enough, already, and the government would be wise to inform the postal clerks they no longer have to plead for a buck for Mental Health--as if the economy keeps on this slide, we are all going to need to pay for our own mental health issues. Won't be enough to go around anyhow.
Say "NO" to all the clerks, and give that dollar to the Hospice House-served by people who care and give so willingly of such a valuable component of life-compassion for those whose life is ending, and their families.