renewal of the memorandum of understanding between the society with the University of Northern BC earlier that day<\/a>.<\/p>\nShe also highlighted the success of fundraisers like the Dream Home Lottery, Colour Walk and the High Tea for Hospice.<\/p>\n
Flood said there are currently 1,141 publicly funded long-term care beds available in Northern BC and 200 more are expected to open sometime around 2028, demand is still outpacing supply.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not enough,\u201d Flood said.<\/p>\n
She said there\u2019s a shortage 2,000 care beds across the entire province and capacity will need to expand by a further 50 per cent in the next 10 years.<\/p>\n
In 2018, the wait for one of these care beds was about 282 days. In 2025, it had increased to more than a year.<\/p>\n
There are almost 16,000 seniors in Prince George \u2014 an increase from the slightly more than 12,000 recorded in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cBehind this growth, thousands of family caregivers are quietly providing the majority of care, often with limited access to formal respite services,\u201d a slide said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite their critical role, respite capacity remains fragmented and insufficient. Without immediate investment in caregiver and respite supports, the system that depends on them cannot be sustained.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flood noted that there are about 90 people she would describe as the \u201csilent homeless\u201d at the University Hospital of Northern BC who are living there as they wait for a care at a long-term home.<\/p>\n
A lot of this burden, the slides said, is being borne by the so-called \u201csandwich generation\u201d made up of people who are both raising children and caring for their aging parents at the same time.<\/p>\n
The consequences of the burnout, financial strain and declining health this causes is at risk of spreading outwards into the larger community.<\/p>\n
Due to a lack of facilities, hospitals and acute care facilities are being relied on to care for seniors which is much more expensive than having dedicated facilities for that purpose, the slides said.<\/p>\n
While the society is running a lot of programs and is taking in around $4.5 million in fundraising per year, Flood said there\u2019s worry over the sustainability of those programs given the demand and the lack of dedicated facilities.<\/p>\n
The solution being pitched by the society is a palliative wellness centre with 10 to 12 respite suites and integrated caregiver support.<\/p>\n
The slides said this facility would cost about $2.2 million to build and cost around $1.7 to $2 million per year to operate. It would serve up to 552 individuals at the end of their lives each year.<\/p>\n
This dedicated facility could be a partial solution to the program, Flood said, by providing respite opportunities for caregivers. Without respite opportunities, it can sometimes mean that caregivers can\u2019t get the medical attention they need for their own issues.<\/p>\n
By moving forward with this proposal, she said this could help save the local health-care system around $5 million per year.<\/p>\n
Flood asked council to help lobby local health care leaders, Northern Health and the Ministry of Health for the need to build and operate this facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease bring up what we\u2019re doing,\u201d she said. \u201cBe our ambassadors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coun. Garth Frizzell moved for the matter to be referred to the Standing Committee for Intergovernmental Affairs, which he chairs, for further advocacy work.<\/p>\n
Coun. Brian Skakun said his own father had gone to a hospice facility at the end of his life and said he didn\u2019t think he could have had a better experience.<\/p>\n
He said the issue should also be referred to administration for work and that he and his colleagues who also sit on the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George board of directors should also advance the issue on that front as well.<\/p>\n
Coun. Cori Ramsay said people might not think about how important hospice is until they or their family members need it. She said she had recently lost two family members who lived in communities without hospice facilities.<\/p>\n
Ramsay asked whether the hospice society was eligible for grants. Flood said that it\u2019s hard for it to get grants since it\u2019s an already-established organization but something resources are available for pilot projects.<\/p>\n
However, she said that the society works hard to maintain an operational reserve to cover costs for six months to a year in case of emergency.<\/p>\n
Coun. Kyle Sampson said even though the society has been around for decades, he felt that the community has really embraced its important over the last 15 years.<\/p>\n
He said there have been discussions at the provincial level on capital contributions towards the project.<\/p>\n
Sampson is the current chair of the Fraser-Fort George Regional Hospital District Board. He said he would raise the issue of capital funding at an upcoming board meeting.<\/p>\n
Responding to a question about priorities, Flood said they want to offer people the chance to age at home for as long as possible.<\/p>\n
Present in chambers were members of the Spruce Capital Seniors Recreation Centre, there for another discussion about parking near their facility. Flood asked if they\u2019d like to age at home and they answered yes.<\/p>\n
Coun. Susan Scott said she has been a part of the local hospice movement since the beginning and believes it\u2019s important to let people age at home as long as possible.<\/p>\n
Coun. Tim Bennett said that the society\u2019s grief support programs are an important service that might not get as much notice around the wider community.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Flood announced her plan to retire on Aug. 28 of this year<\/a>. Bennett said he hoped she takes some time to celebrate her contributions to the community.<\/p>\nAt the end of the discussion, Acting Mayor Trudy Klassen presented Flood with a certificate of recognition in honour of her work with the society and 44 years in the health-care field.<\/p>\n
After Klassen finished reading out the text of the certificate, people in the room gave Flood a round of applause.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Vote summary<\/p>\n
Motion: Council refers advocacy for hospice respite centre funding to the Standing Committee on Intergovernmental Relations.<\/p>\n
Result: Approved unanimously, with Mayor Simon Yu absent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Executive director Donna Flood asked for city council’s help in pushing for local end-of-life care The head of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,246478,84,392],"class_list":["post-668258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-city-of-prince-georgeprince-george-city-councildonna-floodprince-george-hospice-palliative-care-society","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}