The Co-Chair of the Huron Hospice Palliative Care Steering Committee says the Southwest LHIN has identified establishing residential hospice beds in Huron and Perth counties as a priority.
Kathy O'Reilly explains they've identified a need for five beds in each county, and they're currently working on a plan to determine what is sustainable as far as funding as well as human resources, how they can integrate services, and where are the willing communities.
O'Reilly says under the current Hospice Ontario program the Province covers sixty per cent of the operating costs but that funding can only be used for nursing and personal care.
The other forty per cent has to come from the host community and that covers the cost of things like food, electricity and maintenance of the building housing the beds.
One of major goals of the upcoming study is to find out where that forty per cent funding is going to come from on an on-going basis.
O'Reilly adds while most people recognize the need for hospice care beds in Huron and Perth counties, it's not just elderly people who need them. She points out there are young people who are stricken with terminal illnesses and need the service just as much as the elderly people.