Our Future
Coast Hospice constantly evolves and innovates to meet the growing demand in our community for compassionate hospice support, services and programs.
A Rapidly Growing Need
Demand for hospice beds has grown in the past two decades, but hospice residential capacity and personal home care services operated by Vancouver Coastal Health in our community have remained static. In any given month, three people who need hospice beds on the Coast must find care elsewhere.
More than 30% of the population on the Sunshine Coast is 65 years of age or older.
That number grows to 40% when you look at the population aged 60 and over. Clearly the demographics on the Coast underscore the need for improved hospice residential and home care services.
A New Hospice Centre
Our goal is to support the creation of a new Hospice Centre that will bring together a full array of support and care services for people in our community and their loved ones, starting at the time of diagnosis of a life-limiting illness and continuing for those in bereavement.
We are in active discussions with the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) about a permanent location for the new Hospice Centre.
We envision a new Hospice Centre that will provide at least eight residential and respite suites to better serve our community and meet the standard of similar facilities in other parts of the province. Our priority is to create a peaceful, safe and home-like atmosphere, ensuring comfort for patients and their family members and friends. Ideally the Centre will also provide a permanent home for the administration and delivery of all our community services including individual and family palliative support, bereavement programs, education and outreach, and advance care planning. We envision that this space will also house the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) palliative care medical team.
At the moment, our society has administrative offices and program space at Hospice House in Davis Bay. We also furnish and provide companionship in two hospice bedrooms with an adjoining family room and gardens at Shorncliffe Intermediate Care Facility in Sechelt. VCH covers the operating costs and medical care for those two residential hospice suites. The VCH palliative team is located in Sechelt Hospital.
It will be up to us in the Sunshine Coast community to raise the funds to build our new Centre. We envision that VCH will own and operate the facility, once it is built.