Nipissing Serenity Hospice structure breaks ground

Construction of the Nipissing Serenity Hospice on John Street has had its official kickoff with a groundbreaking ceremony.

Officials expect the $7.4 million dollar 10 bed structure to be opened in a year so.

Before the shovels went into the ground Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli announced $1.5 million in additional money from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund.

Fedeli says the hospice will be a home away from home helping those who need it most in their last days on earth.

“In comfort and serenity with their family. The family can stay at the hospice. They can cook together. It’s what people deserve to have at the end of their life,” he says.
The chair of the hospice Mathilde Gravelle Bazinet says she saw through her brother how beneficial a hospice can be in someone’s final days.

“I saw the beautiful care his whole family had. It allowed 2 of his sons who had been estranged from each other to reconcile during that week with their dad. This would not have happened in a traditional hospital setting,”

Previously, the province committed $1.2 million, the Northeast LHIN is providing $105,000 per bed per year and the community is contributing $4 million.

Gravelle-Bazinet says a lot of people deserve credit for making this happen but she believes it was the city’s decision to sell them the land on the John Street for a dollar that was the turning point in making this happen.

She says the land is valued at $240,000.