Construction is underway on a new addition to the Erie Shores Campus of Hospice in Leamington.
A groundbreaking ceremony took place Wednesday morning on a new 4,500 sq. ft. Training and Welcome Centre in front of the campus on Talbot Rd.
The facility will be used to host hospice wellness programs such as counselling, volunteer training and celebrations, with funds were donated by Don and Kathy Mastronardi in memory of their parents.
"What this has done for us is jumped us three years ahead in our strategic planning, we now can offer all of our programming out here in the county so patients and family members and volunteers don't have to make that trek into the city," says Hospice Board Member, Joan McSweeney .
She says this will allow the hospice building to focus on the patients and their families.
"Right now we are in the residence but the residence is designed for families and so we have to jam ourselves in there or we are at a church in Kingsville and above the superstore and we are all over the place."
Erie Shores Healthcare CEO Janice Dawson says this is an important addition to the campus and healthcare in Leamington.
"As a nurse myself, I have seen first hand what this actually means to patients and their families and what it will do for our community and bringing us all that much closer in developing those partnerships."
The new centre should open in March 2019.