Our Story
In 1990 a small group of compassionate and committed citizens saw the need for hospice in Centre Hastings. Hospice is a person-centered approach, encompassing the whole of the person. The primary aim of hospice is to relieve suffering and to improve the quality of living and the quality of dying. Early into the inception of bringing hospice to Centre Hastings, community VON nurse Doris Bush was invited into the process.
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The group organized information nights throughout the various municipalities in the fall of 1990 and winter of 1991. The overwhelming message from these information nights was the people of Centre Hastings wanted a hospice. In the beginning days of hospice, the office for The Heart of Hastings Hospice was in Doris Bush’s own home. Board meetings would take place in the basement of the Presbyterian Church. In the spring of 1992, The Heart of Hastings Hospice was granted incorporation, and achieved charitable status.
The Heart of Hastings Hospice was making a difference in the lives of many individuals residing in the Centre Hastings area, but the board of directors never forgot their dream of opening a residential hospice. After tireless fundraising and grant applications, the dream became reality.
In August of 2011, The Heart of Hospice purchased a home, and many volunteers committed time and effort to renovate the home. In September of 2012, The Heart of Hastings Residential Hospice House opened its doors at 17 McKenzie Street. Ten years later, and after several focus groups in all of our communities, the message was clear: we needed to expand. In the fall of 2022, after a brief closure, the hospice re-opened its doors.
The space was expanded to include a third patient room, a second family guest room, accessible bathrooms, additional space for the medical equipment lending storage and private dedicated space for bereavement programming.
The following spring, through the support of ladies at the 2022 Handbags for Hospice Fund a Need, a serenity garden was added to bring the peace and compassion of the hospice house to the beautiful back yard. The serenity garden offers residents, families, and group members a space in nature to reflect and find solace.
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The Heart of Hastings Hospice currently serves Stirling-Rawdon, Tweed, Marmora & Lake, and Centre Hastings, which includes 9 Townships, 28,000 people and a geographical area of 5,700 km2.
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The Heart of Hastings Hospice believes that racism, discrimination, exclusion, intolerance, and violence have no place in our organisation. This policy reinforces our commitment to providing equity so that no one is disadvantaged based on the grounds of age, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, sex including pregnancy and maternity, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, national origin, religion or belief, education and/or sexual orientation.
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Equity means that people of all identities are treated fairly. Their individual rights, responsibilities and opportunities are not dependent upon identity.
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Diversity consists of the conditions, expressions, and experiences of different individuals. encompasses the unique qualities and characteristics that we all possess.
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Inclusion is the cultivation of an environment in which all people are respected, where their differences are celebrated, and where they all have access to the same opportunities.
Heart of Hastings Hospice is committed to increasing access to all who live in our service area, and to providing them with the highest quality of comfort, care and symptom management available. From clinical care to family support, our employees and volunteers are committed to meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of our clients and their caregivers and to managing their healthcare wishes through advance directives.
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The Heart of Hastings Hospice is committed to creating an environment in which individual differences, diverse opinions and the contributions of all are recognized and valued, to promo equity in the workplace and good management practices and to encourage anyone who feels they have been subjected to discrimination to raise their concerns safely and without fear of repercussion, so we can apply appropriate corrective measures or education opportunities.
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We encourage every employee and volunteer to treat everyone with dignity and respect and are dedicated to an equity focus in all aspects of Heart of Hastings Hospice operations.
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We commit to informing all parties that an Equity, Inclusion and Diversity Policy has been accepted into practice.
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