For 30 years, St. Paul’s Hospital (SPH) planned and hoped to open a hospice in Saskatoon, a desperately-needed home for end-of-life care.

Finally, last month, SPH and its foundation announced the opening of The Hospice at Glengarda, located at Melrose and Hilliard Streets in the south-central part of the city.

“St. Paul’s Hospital, 30 years ago, established the province’s first palliative care unit and when we established that unit it was always our hope and expectation that a hospice would soon follow,” said Lecina Hicke, St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation CEO and Close to Home campaign director.

“As you work through health care systems . . . you face certain challenges in developing a new facility of care because with that comes costs.

“There was some delay in the creation of this particular facility. Before we moved forward in earnest with our fundraising and planning, one of the things we did was a background study and asked that question: does Saskatoon need a hospice? And the answer to that question was yes.”

The study also determined that such a hospice should be integrated into the health care system and that Saskatoon could use an additional 25 to 30 end-of-life care beds. Unfortunately, compared to other provinces, Saskatchewan doesn’t stack up very well in terms of access to a hospice, said Hicke.

However, best practice for most hospices is considered to be 11 or 12 beds. Considering the need, SPH wondered if that number could be pushed to a few more.

SPH acquired the Ursuline Residence which offered “a great neighbourhood” and had good bones, Hicke said. Post-renovation, it houses 15 beds as well as kitchens, living rooms and other amenities.

“When we designed the facility, we engaged a number of community stakeholders,” Hicke said. “That included patients and families that had gone through end-of-life care as well as spiritual care advisors, healing arts therapists, nurses, physicians, care aids, nutritionists, you name it. We wanted to get their voices and so when we designed the facility, one of the ideas we had was we wanted to make sure that because it was a two-floor facility you had similar experiences no matter which floor you were on.”

Each floor has a living room, kitchen, fireplaces for a homey feel, quiet spaces, a spa room with a tub specifically designed for patients and a fireplace, blanket warmer and television. The hospice also offers access to the outdoors and fresh air with patios that will accommodate patient beds.

In terms of accessing the facility, The Hospice at Glengarda is an integrated part of the system and allows health care practitioners to consider the 15 additional new beds when they make recommendations based on patient and family circumstances. Families and patients can ask to be included in conversations around where to receive end-of-life care. The hospice is governed by Emmanuel Health, owned by St. Paul’s Hospital and operated by Samaritan Place, a fellow subsidiary of Emmanuel Health.

Hicke said the SPH Foundation raised $21 million over two years of active community fundraising through the Close to Home campaign and a year of “quiet” fundraising.

“The Close to Home campaign was taken on by St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation alongside SPH to reidentify that we would raise 100 per cent of the costs to build the hospice itself,” Hicke said.

“What’s really special about this is the donors were our community members — your neighbour next door. If we could take the opportunity to thank each and every person who contributed name by name, we would. We want to thank every donor for every contribution no matter the size. It was the collective contribution that made it happen.”

Funds were also raised to endow holistic care services such as healing arts therapy, bereavement services, spiritual care and music therapy.

The campaign also supported renovations to the SPH palliative care unit and an education fund. The fund supports a need in the community for palliative care outside the hospital and hospice.

“Death and dying is still very uncomfortable to talk about,” Hicke said. “We want to provide a space for our community to understand that death is a part of life. How can we support you and your family as you face an inevitable circumstance?”

The fundraising was book-ended by a $6-million anonymous gift inspired by the story of Gord Engel and his family and a gift by the uranium company Orano. The late Engel shared his terminal cancer diagnosis, and the anonymous donor was so moved, he or she provided the large early gift.

Post-campaign, Orano contributed $250,000, part of it for an endowment intended to increase cultural responsiveness and training for staff.

“(Orano) was the first contributor after completion with $250,000, demonstrating we need continued support,” Hicke said.

-Joanne Paulson