Pandemic pivoting and chain supply-prompted improvising – These are not phrases previously in Shannon Todd Booth’s daily vocabulary.
But they definitely are now, as she and the team at Langley Hospice Society draw closer and closer to completion of the new one-storey, free-standing, 15-bed residence currently under construction just down the hill from Langley Memorial Hospital.
What started out as a blank slate several years ago has slowly morphed into a 16,000-square-foot hospice that boasts a similar sized outdoor space specially designed with comfort and quality of life for patients facing end of life – as well as for their families and friends who are able to be there to share in that journey.
Langley hospice works with Fraser Health now to operate a 10-bed palliative care facility a few hundred metres away, as part of the existing hospital campus. But, Todd Booth admitted, it’s older and more institutional in its design.
It’s been a longstanding dream of the hospice board members and volunteers to create a more home-like setting that can better facilitate the needs of everyone during those final days, Todd Booth explained.
This new residence has been 35 years in the making, she noted. But it’s actually nearing fruition.
It officially started with a provincial funding announcement in 2017 and construction got underway in August 2020.
“Right in the middle of the pandemic,” Todd Booth noted.
Now, 19 months later, the final stages of construction and landscaping are in progress, and set to wrap by the end of February or early March.
“It’s really starting to look like it’s supposed to,” she said. “It’s starting to feel warm, and I’m not just talking temperature… It’s so exciting.”
Installing of equipment and furnishings will soon follow, then the team (both Fraser Health staff and hospice volunteers) will need a few weeks of site orientation and training before the front doors open to clients and their families in late April or early May.
“We’re close,” Todd Booth said, who’s been watching the progress almost daily since ground breaking. “I can’t believe it. We’re almost there.”
It’s all been possible, said executive director Anne Walsh, thanks to the community.
Still relatively new to hospice, only six months in, and she’s been amazed by the generosity demonstrated to the organization and to this project – to the tune of more than $2 million, in fact.
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Due to unforeseen delays and added costs, hospice often found itself, during this process, having to ask for help. Every time they asked, the community stepped up, Walsh said, crediting local individuals and businesses alike for coming through with donations – be it financial donations or needed products or services.
Likewise, she’s been floored by the development of this hospice and all the thought that went into its creation.
“It really taking to heart the value of providing a home-like environment for people as they moving towards that end of life period,” Walsh said.
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It hasn’t been without its challenges in creating a facility that marries the necessary clinical side of care with the quest to create a home-like atmosphere. But both women agree the design of this residence has accomplished both those goals – in spades.
Each room, for instance, is equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment, bathroom with shower, televisions, a love seat with pull out bed, a recliner chair, desk, and patient fridge, plus they’re spacious enough for a lift with room for two assistants.
But, Todd Booth said, while she appreciates all those features, she was brought to tears when she watched the first of the patio doors go into one of the units. Each room offering access – including for wheelchairs and hospital beds – to a private patio and entry to the larger courtyard spaces.
“They’re meant to be larger rooms, and to have the kinds of things to be home,” she said.
Gleaning ideas from hospice residences around the globe and decades of personal experience garnered from caring for thousands of palliative patients in Langley, this centre will leave patients and families wanting for little, Todd Booth hopes.
This residence, she added, has been customized to cater to pretty much every situation and anticipate every need, and while purpose built, the design in the main spaces has been developed with flexibility in mind.
For the patients, there’s extras including a temperature controlled tub in the centre’s spa, there’s a fully stocked library that comes complete with computer station and a puzzle table. Focusing so much on the details that will make it comfortable and home-like, she said there’s even a blanket warmers and cupboards that will be loaded up with fuzzy socks and warm slippers.
There’s a commercial kitchen where a chef will prepare daily meals, and there’s a massive, fully landscaped outdoor courtyard that is already attracting birds and other wildlife.
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There’s a large dining room where families can come together and share an intimate meal or larger celebration. The living room boasts a large fireplace and will provide a quiet comfortable sanctuary. There’s a spiritual centre for families, a children’s and teens’ space, and even a shower room, laundry facilities, and a fully equipped kitchen available for the family members who are able to be with the patients in the final weeks, days, or hours.
Those are just some of the highlights of the bright space that will soon be open, said Todd Booth, who only refers to it as a residence or a home – never a facility or institution.
“It truly is the house that the community built, and we can’t wait to have it finished and operational,” she said.
For more information on hospice, visit the society’s website.
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