Photo/MANDI HARGRAVE NEW PALLIATIVE SUITE offers comfort and privacy for families in need of the service at the Orangeville site of Headwaters Health Care Centre. This is the second suite in the hospital. Sandy Bassett (left) and Linda Gray (right) sit on the couch in the brand new suite. Construction of a new palliative care suite, which began in September at the Orangeville site of Headwaters Health Care Centre, is now completed.

As a result, there are now two palliative suites in Orangeville and one in Shelburne. The first suites (one each in Orangeville and Shelburne) were built in 2003.

The new suite is “filling a real need — a need that’s pretty important,” said Bob Baynham, President and CEO of Headwaters Health Care Centre.

Each suite has one bed, a leather couch that pulls out into a bed (for the family), a chair, a minifridge, a microwave, a kettle and a TV, and they are individually decorated.

Palliative care is for individuals and their family who are living with a life threatening illness that is usually at an advanced stage.

The goal of Headwaters’ Palliative Care Program (which is integrated with hospice care) is to provide the best quality care for the patients by ensuring their comfort and dignity. The program gives patients and their families physical, emotional and spiritual support often needed in the last stages of life.

Mr. Baynham said the centre has patients who are at the end of their life and want time to say goodbye and interact with their family, adding the privacy of the rooms is a huge benefit to the families.

He believes that’s why the suites have been so well supported, as they feel more like a home than an institution.

“It’s like a home environment and that’s what people want at that time,” he said.

The suite was completed recently and occupied on December 6.

“This wonderful new room has been made possible through the amazing support of individuals and groups from throughout the Headwaters area,” said Linda Gray, Executive Director for Headwaters Health Care Centre. “Families that benefited from having access to the first palliative care suite have donated funds that allowed for the creation of a second suite.”