Newmarket's Margaret Bahen Hospice receives almost $950K in one-time provincial funding for end-of-life care

'You go above and beyond to show kindness in your care,' MPP says of hospice serving York Region

Yorkregion.com
June 30, 2023
Lisa Queen

The Ministry of Health is giving Newmarket’s Margaret Bahen Hospice almost $950,000 over two years in one-time funding to help the facility provide its residents with end-of-life care.

“This is what all Ontarians should be able to enjoy when it comes to end of life,” Newmarket-Aurora MPP Dawn Gallagher Murphy said in announcing the funding at the hospice June 23.

“You go above and beyond to show kindness in your care. It is your empathy and compassion, (of) which I am so appreciative.”

The hospice, which has provided care to more than 990 patients and their families, is the only residential hospice serving York Region families. While its catchment area is York Region, it also houses Bradford residents needing palliative care.

“Our government is committed to ensuring Ontarians receive the care, dignity and respect they deserve in every stage of their life,” said Gallagher Murphy, parliamentary assistant to Health Minister Sylvia Jones.

“Together with health system partners like Margaret Bahen Hospice, we are building a better, connected health-care system that is centred on the needs and experiences of patients, families, and caregivers.”

The funding will be used for nursing, personal support and other services.

“This one-time funding will support us in continuing to provide individualized, high-quality and compassionate care to our residents and their families at end of life” said Sonya Murray, president of Better Living Health and Community Services, which is responsible for Margaret Bahen Hospice.

The funding is part of $147.4 million the province is investing over three years to bring palliative care services closer to home for patients, Gallagher Murphy said.

Rick Firth, president of Hospice Palliative Care Ontario, welcomed the funding for Ontario hospices.

“This investment demonstrates the government understands the value of community-based hospice palliative care and how it impacts the lives of everyone and supports the health-care system with compassionate and cost-effective care,” he said.

“The funding will help families have critical conversations about quality of life as part of their health-care planning. It will support families as they journey through grief, including parents facing the loss of an infant, and it will sustain hospice residences to meet the growing demand for hospice palliative care.”