The sod was turned and the Nipissing Serenity Hospice will officially become part of North Bay by this time next summer.
Officials gathered at the hospice site located just off John Street near downtown North Bay to celebrate a team effort that was topped off with a pleasant $1.5 million dollar Northern Ontario Heritage Fund grant which brought funding near the $7.4 million price tag for the project.
“We have it here because it is centrally located so if there are people that cannot drive or afford a taxi, (they) will be able to come on the bus, get off right over there and walk only about 200 feet to the Nipissing Serenity Hospice,” said Mathilde Gravelle Bazinet, Chair of the Nipissing Serenity Hospice.
“It has been seven years in the making but sometimes the difficult roads bring you to a beautiful destination and that is what this destination is,” said Bazinet.
Bazinet figures the turning point was a big contribution by the city to make this happen.
“I think the turning point was when the city of North Bay donated the land to us for $1 because that showed the city really supported our project and we had confirmation from the ministry of health that they would support our project, they would provide operational funding but we really needed that as that property was $240,000 so to get that was a fantastic contribution,” said Bazinet.
The 10-bed residential hospice will be a Centre of Excellence in Palliative Care for the North Bay and East Parry Sound region. Many dignitaries including MP Anthony Rota and capital funding co-chair Jon Dellandrea spoke of stories of their family challenges dealing currently with terminally ill relatives who will not be fortunate enough to find comfort in a local hospice.
“When a cure is no longer possible, we offer comfort and care,” stated Bazinet.
