A New Hospice Facility in Kingston

At this week’s Council meeting I was pleased to put forward a motion to explore how the City could contribute to a new hospice facility in Kingston. A hospice is an important service that our community is lacking, and there have been many volunteers and community advocates working with a vision to fill this void. Over the last few years, Hospice Kingston has been working to raise the $11.7 million required to construct and operate a new 10 bed facility on the Sisters of Providence property just up from the Kingston Centre. The community support to date has been amazing, and with over $10 million raised, the finish line is in sight. The time is right to look at what the City can do to help bridge the remaining gap.

As a City we invest in parks, public health programs, cultural and recreation activities and many others things that add to our quality of life. A hospice is really a community investment to ensure quality of life at the end of life. I saw this first hand last year, when my grandmother was able spend the last few weeks of her life in a hospice facility in the Toronto area. She was in a peaceful environment that provided wonderful support both for her and the rest of our family. The vision of Hospice Kingston is to have a facility that offers a home-like setting, with a whole range of services, from music therapy to pet therapy, to multi-generational activities like cooking, dining, visiting, reading and child and youth engagement.

Right now Kingston is the largest municipality in Southeastern Ontario that does not have a hospice facility. I’m hopeful that as a City we can partner with the many other individuals and organizations who have already stepped forward as donors, so that we can make the vision of a new hospice a reality.