Two suites at the soon-to-open Olds Sunrise Encore facility off of 57 Avenue will be dedicated to palliative care thanks to a partnership between the facility and the Olds and District Hospice Society.
Two suites at the soon-to-open Olds Sunrise Encore facility off of 57 Avenue will be dedicated to palliative care thanks to a partnership between the facility and the Olds and District Hospice Society.
Charlene Schram, the society's treasurer, said her organization and the company that will run the facility have for three years been working out the details of an agreement where the society would rent the pair of suites.
She added the society has put a down payment for the spaces and it expects to finalize the contract soon.
"We're excited about this," she said.
Continuum Health Care Holdings owns and operates the facility while Connecting Care is the company that runs the Sunrise buildings.
The suites are expected to open in the fall when the facility opens, Schram said, and they will offer users "homecare" services.
Through such services, she added, family members currently providing end-of-life care to a loved one will be able to stay with the person receiving the care in a home-like setting while others provide the care.
"That's the gap that's in the current system," Schram said.
Angela Arp, the general manager of Sunrise Encore, said each suite can accommodate one person under the "home care model."
"It's like your home, you bring your own stuff but the hospice (society) will have to, of course, supply hospital beds and stuff," she said.
The society, which currently raises funds of roughly $70,000 annually, will need $50,000 to equip, operate and furnish the suites along with $60,000 a year to rent the spaces, Schram said.
While the society is renting the suites, Alberta Health Services will operate the spaces.
Schram said the society, whose mission is to "provide quality, compassionate care in a home like setting for those facing death" has looked to develop a stand-alone building for hospice services in Olds for several years.
Such a goal may not be feasible, she added, due to the financial challenges of operating such a facility—including wages and insurance costs—and the need for a free-standing centre may disappear once the baby boomer generation dies off.
Once completed, the Sunrise Encore facility will contain 107 spaces including 47 private residence suites and 60 suites that include a supportive living option.
Arp said the two hospice suites would be included in the 107 spaces.
The facility is expected to open in September.
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