Campaign to build 1st Saskatoon hospice gets boost

This building in Buena Vista is slated to become Saskatoon's first hospice.

The St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation announced a $700,000 donation to the Close to Home Campaign for Hospice and End-of-life Care.

It came from the campaign’s honourary co-chairs, Gene and Adele Dupuis.

“From our own experiences with end-of-life care, we’ve gained a clearer perspective of what is needed to support patients and their families during this emotional time,” Gene Dupuis said.

The campaign has now raised $14.5 million towards its $20 million goal to realize Saskatoon’s first hospice by renovating, expanding, and furnishing an existing hospital building in the Buena Vista neighbourhood. It would have 15 beds.

The event kicked off at St. Paul’s Hospital Wednesday morning with Celine Schlosser reflecting on the death of her husband Carl Schlosser and their experience in the St. Paul’s Palliative Care Unit – the only unit of its kind in Saskatoon.

“When a bed came open in the palliative care unit … I felt like had won the lottery,” Schlosser said.

“The palliative care unit saved us. It allowed me to be his wife again instead of his caregiver.”

The campaign will also help the St. Paul’s Palliative Care Unit.