The Prince George Hospice Palliative Care Society (PGHPCS) board of directors has agreed to waive government-imposed per-diem fees for individuals staying at the Rotary Hospice House.
In a press release, the PGHPCS stated that end-of-life is often full of emotional and financial hardship and that waiving these fees was one of the ways to ease that burden.
As well, the board stated, it is often uncomfortable for staff to have difficult financial conversations when trying to care for patients.
“It is a burden,” said Donna Flood, executive director of the PGHPCS. “It can sometimes be a reason people don't come to hospices because they just don't have the fee. So we wanted to make it so that our hospice is accessible to everyone any time they need it with no barrier.”
While fees have been waived on a case-by-case basis before, this decision affects everyone who uses the facility.
The PGHPCS is the first hospice care house in the province to waive the fees, but this doesn't mean the fees have been removed entirely.
Because the fees, which cover part of the daily cost of a stay at Hospice House, are required to be paid to the government, Hospice will turn to fundraising and community support to raise the roughly $80,000 it has been collecting in the fees each year.
“It's difficult because the premium is mandated by the government," said Flood. “We had to make sure that, financially it wasn't going to impact us hard not to get the fees. But then, with our dream home lottery and the work we do fundraising, we feel that the community will step up and help and share so we can cover those fees.”
Flood told The Citizen that this will continue until the mandate is removed.
"We're working with the government now to see if we can just remove them and remove the government mandate," she said. "But until that happens, we have made that decision just to do it ourselves.”
To make a one-time donation or become a monthly donor visit pghpcs.ca.
