$2 million Huron Hospice expansion nearing completion
Construction crews are feverishly trying to complete a massive expansion of Huron County’s largest end of life care facility.
“We currently have a four-bed capacity, and we’ll be going to six beds with full suites. So, that will include walkout patios and more space in the rooms than we currently have,” said Huron Hospice Executive Director Willy Van Klooster.
While the construction is going well at Huron Hospice’s Bender House near Clinton, it’s costing more than originally planned, said Van Klooster.
The original estimate of $1.6 million has now become more than $2 million. Good thing sponsors like Bruce Power, the Kincardine area nuclear operators, have come through with $100,000 to help complete the work left to do.
“Huron County is an important part of what we consider to be our community. Bruce, Grey, and Huron. We have a lot of employees living in Huron County, and we get a lot of support from Huron County. We have made a concerted effort, I think, to make sure we’re doing our part to give that support back that we’ve received so strongly,” said Bruce Power spokesperson John Peevers.
Representatives from Huron Hospice near Clinton, Ont. and Bruce Power hold a cheque for $100,000 towards Huron Hospice’s multi-million dollar expansion on April 17, 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)
Van Klooster said Huron Hospice supported 72 individuals and their families during their end of life journey last year.
Since opening in 2018, more than 210 families have used their services.
Van Klooster anticipates the expansion from four to six beds will mean more than 100 people can die with dignity at Huron Hospice’s Bender House each year going forward.
Six months into a nine-month construction project to expand Huron Hospice from four beds to six, seen on April 17, 2024. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)
“The average length of stay here is 15 days. So, we try to make every day special in the last period of someone’s life, and also their family members’ lives who are here as well,” said VanKlooster.
If all goes well this summer, Huron Hospice’s expansion should be ready to receive clients by August, according to Van Klooster.
Huron County has one other residential hospice located in Exeter, called Jessica’s House. It is currently a three-bed facility.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.