Capital Campaign

HOSPICE PALLIATIVE CARE
IS NEEDED MORE THAN EVER.

With Niagara’s aging population, more people are living longer with complex conditions such as COPD, ALS, complex heart disease and multiple cancers. The need for hospice palliative care is greater than ever and continues to rise. Niagara simply does not have enough hospice beds or community palliative care services to ensure people who are living with a life-limiting illness and their families receive the care they need and deserve.

Our region is far below provincial standards, and referrals for the existing 10 beds in St. Catharines continue to increase.
The Auditor General of Ontario recommends that Niagara have 31 to 45 hospice beds.

Over the past six years, the number of people requiring quality care at end of life has increased to such an extent that we are no longer able to accommodate all the requests for care in the St. Catharines residence.

The only way to ensure more people in our community are provided the care they need and deserve is to invest in innovative change.

Planning for a capital expansion began more than four years ago as we laid the groundwork for the $18M Close to Home Campaign. In 2025, we will celebrate the opening of two Hospice Palliative Care Centres of Excellence in Welland and Fort Erie. This expansion will benefit the entire Niagara region, adding 20 hospice suites for people at end of life, as well as outreach services and bereavement care.

 

This is an exciting time for all of Niagara.

Together, with early commitments from our local municipalities, Niagara Region, the Ministry of Health, business leaders and the generosity of our caring community, we will ensure that every person receives the highest quality of care they need, expect and deserve.

Nearly a century ago, the founder of the modern hospice movement, Dame Cicely Saunders, envisioned caring for people in a way that valued individual experience until the last breath. In her words: “You matter because you are you and you matter to the end of your life.” 

It is that vision—that imperative to provide care, compassion and dignity—that brings us together to make a difference for generations to come.
 

 

THE NEED IS CLEAR. AND THE TIME IS NOW.