“You can’t change yesterday, but you can start today to change tomorrow"
- Indigenous Oral Tradition
“You can’t change yesterday, but you can start today to change tomorrow"
- Indigenous Oral Tradition
Council moves ahead with plan for Dundas children’s hospice – Hamilton Spectator
The city will negotiate a below-market lease for a future children’s hospice on municipal land in Dundas with the goal of firming up an agreement in coming months. Kemp Care Network aims to build the pediatric hospice on the 41 South St. W. parcel by Wentworth Lodge, one of the city’s two municipally run long-term care homes. The future pediatric hospice will fill a regional gap in services, said Doug Mattina, a senior director with the hospice network.
McMaster Children’s Hospital services 500,000 children across a region of over 2.3 million. This is greater than the population served by the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa and the associated pediatric hospice. Yet our children and their families do not have a children’s hospice or a pediatric palliative care team with the proper suite of tools.
We plan to build a children’s hospice that will embrace children, families and caregivers throughout their journey. Our services will complement existing medical and social programs, bridge the gap between hospital visits and home care and provide services that neither the hospital nor an adult hospice offers.
Learn More About Our Plan
Their Stories
Keaton's Story.
Better support for families.
On December 4th, 2010, after three years of chemo and radiation treatments, our vibrant seven- year-old son Keaton died from stage 4 Rhabdomyosarcoma. Learning that our son was seriously ill threw our world upside down. Gone was a normal life.
Sawyer’s Story
A very special place.
It has been several months since our sweet Sawyer died. We still feel lost without her but feel that she keeps sending us signs and little messages as to what we should do next.
We had almost four years with Sawyer. At five months, her seizure and diagnosis journey began.
Statement from our Campaign Chair
“As a board member at the Dr. Bob Kemp Hospice since 2019, I am honoured to serve as the Chair of the Children’s Hospice Campaign Cabinet. I look forward to engaging with community leaders across the Greater Hamilton area to make a difference in the lives of children in palliative care and their devoted families. I am confident we will look back and acknowledge how we stood together to push for growth and change. Forever grateful for this opportunity I will not only campaign for necessary funding, I will also campaign for the children.”
Joe Mercanti
Campaign Chair