Bruce County Getting Behind Residential Owen Sound Hospice

Bruce County council is getting behind the construction of a residential hospice in Owen Sound.

County councillors voted to donate $50,000 toward Residential Hospice of Grey Bruce Chapman House, though less than the $200,000 that had been requested.

Executive Director Scott Lovell admits they were late with their request, as councillors settled on their 2017 budget later the same day, but explains they wanted to wait until after a recent announcement of expanded provincial funding for the eight-bed Chapman House.

Lovell says an expanded and successful Chapman House could create an opportunity for satellite hospice locations in Bruce County.

"I think that it's an easier sell to a council like this to say that they're investing an expanded facility," says Lovell. "And the expanded facility also points down the road to the opportunity to operate satellite models in other jurisdictions within the region of Bruce-Grey, specifically in Bruce [County]."

Lovell says the hospice has also requested $200,000 from Grey County council, with their budget deliberations scheduled for later this month.

Chapman House residential hospice in Owen Sound is expected to be completed by this spring.