Comox Valley Hospice Society (CVHS) recently announced plans to construct a new six-bed community hospice facility.
The facility will also provide a permanent home for hospice administrative and outpatient offices, and staff and volunteers who provide emotional, spiritual and practical care and support for more than 1,000 people every year who are dying and who are the loved ones and caregivers of those people who are dying.
A recent announcement by the Vancouver Island Health Authority and the Ministry of Health confirmed the location of 120 long-term care beds and the four existing plus two new community hospice beds, at Golden Life Management’s Ocean Front Village in Courtenay.
“A community-owned hospice facility is something that CVHS has been working towards for years,” said Paula Horky, president, Comox Valley Hospice Society. “We are grateful for this decision.
“It is an important step forward for us in providing the care that matters most to each person in the Comox Valley.”
Mamie Aitken’s legacy realized
The dream of this facility moved closer to a reality in 2015 when the late Mamie Aitken, daughter of one of the Valley’s founding families, provided $2 million in her will for a hospice facility as a lasting legacy for the people of the community she loved.
CVHS is now requesting release of these funds from the Comox Valley Community Foundation.
The hospice project includes a partnership with Golden Life Management, a family-owned business founded in B.C., that will allow CVHS to own the hospice facility in perpetuity on behalf of the people of the Comox Valley.
“Over the coming months CVHS will collaborate with the community and care partners to develop a state-of-the-art facility coupled with exceptional care programs,” said Horky. “We want to ensure the new facility is a reflection of the community and honours the individuals, businesses and organizations that have been supportive of making the Comox Valley a great place to live and a good place to die.”
As the project takes shape, CVHS will continue to collaborate with Island Health as well as Golden Life to provide compassionate hospice palliative care in the Comox Valley. Currently, CVHS serves people of all ages in their homes, in the community hospice, in long-term care facilities and at the Comox Valley Hospital.