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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-12-21, Page 3Wednesday, December 21, 2016 • Lucknow Sentinel 3 Jessica's House wins $100,000, releases designs for 3 -bed hospice Darryl Coote Goderich Signal Star Jessica's House won $100,000 from the Aviva Community Fund Dec. 6, beating out hundreds of other charitable community initiatives in Canada. "I don't know if there are words that could adequately express how we felt about it," said Executive Director of the South Huron Hospital Foundation Kimberly Payne over the phone Dec. 16. `... Over 9,000 people in our area and around the world voted for us, voted us first place so it's very exciting. Very, very exciting." For about a year the South Huron Hospital Founda- tion's hospice initiative has been raising money and community support to break ground on a new three -bed hospice in Exeter. She says this victory shows the com- munity support of a project that has struggled to get rec- ognition from the South West LHIN. The LHIN is currently in the process of deciding the location of 10 beds within Huron and Perth counties, with Clinton and Stratford being the two locations rec- ommended for the beds. Following the announce- ment by Aviva that Jessica's House had won the money, the LHIN sent out a state- ment saying "no decisions on bed locations have been made" and that it "appreci- ates the hard work and effort which community members have invested to provide advice about the location and number of beds across Huron -Perth." In another media release, the LHIN reaffirmed its stance that it will not make a decision on the beds at the very earliest in January 2017. Payne says the win from Aviva should make the LHIN more aware of the commu- nity support for its project. "It should raise their awareness level that the community strongly believes that this is something they want in the community. And it's a community position they're ready to go. And AVIVA feels the same way otherwise they wouldn't have chosen us out of all those projects in Canada to do this work," she said. She continued that she has spoken with the LHIN board and a member there has told her Jessica's House's position will be heard, A computer rendering of the outside of Jessica's House, a three -bed hospice that is expected to break ground in March 2017. whether through that board member or by the hospice initiative itself. She said it was "extremely frustrating" before that as they weren't involved in the decision process. But now they feel "a little more confi- dent" they will be heard. Jessica's house, she said, wants the LHIN to be a crea- tive leader and try to find solutions to this problem. "Sometimes you just have to be a leader," she said. 'And this is a time for the South West LHIN to step up and be a leader and be creative and say you know what, maybe the right solution is the right number of beds for the com- munity instead of of starting out with a deficit with 10 beds when you know you need 13 and you know we're going to need 15 or 16 in another five to 10 years. Don't divide communities. Lift up the work this community is doing and we'll lift up the other communities when their time is here. We need both:' The original recommen- dation for the two counties was a total 13 beds, but that was then whittled down to the present 10. Those selected to house the hos- pice beds will receive $105,000 per a year, which equals about 40 per cent of the cost. The remaining 60 per cent will have to come from the community. Jessica's House doesn't need the LHIN's support to build, she said, and they intended break ground in March 2017. The designs for the two- storey three -bed hospice were released to the public Wednesday, Dec. 14. Payne says they have taken the eventual need for more beds into consideration when they asked for the drawings. The plans included for future expansion of a further three beds. nwmo "The other really good thing about this model is at some point the LHIN decides we get these beds and down the road decided, 'oh gosh we need three more,' they can mirror that build. They just put a breeze way in between the two buildings and join them and build the mirror image on the other side. And we have enough land to do that com- fortably," Payne said. NUCLEAR WASTE SOCIETE DE GESTION MANAGEMENT DES DECHETS ORGANIZATION NUCLEAIRES The hospice is to have three large rooms, each with their own private porches allowing for patients to be wheeled outside on their beds. "You can go outside, you can be rolled out in your bed at night, in the morning, any time of day you can be rolled out to be outside because we know that's an important part of the process," she said. The idea behind the NWMO Learn More Centre Everyone is welcome. Drop in and learn more about Adaptive Phased Management (APM), and ongoing work in the area. APM is Canada's plan for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is working collaboratively with Huron -Kinloss to consider the project and advance preliminary assessment studies. The Township of Huron -Kinloss is one of nine communities involved in this learning process. South Huron Hospital Foundation design was to make it a home -like experience, she said. The rooms are large with a pull-out sofa so family can stay over. There will also be a playroom for children and a kitchen. "we imagined a place where families can come and have space. So the bed- rooms are very big and the space where families can be together is quite large," she said. NWMO Learn More Centre (Huron-Kinlossr 46 Queen St., Ripley ON (across from Lewis Park) 519.386.6711 Wednesdays Thursdays Fridays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.