Advocates for a hospice residence in White Rock are taking a “glass half-full” approach to news palliative care at Peace Arch Hospital is being converted to hospice care.

“It will put more pressure on Fraser Health and White Rock Hospice to get the hospice residence open sooner rather than later,” said Yvon Thibeault, executive director of White Rock Hospice Society.

Fraser Health announced earlier this month that Peace Arch’s 10 palliative beds will transition to hospice beds. The change is among ways the health authority has found to significantly reduce its $160-million deficit.

With the conversion, three care aides will be displaced; and, registered nurses will be replaced, by attrition, with licensed practical nurses. The staff will transfer over when the hospice residence opens.

Officials with the hospice society have had their eye on a permanent hospice residence since the society formed more than 25 years ago.

The dream has been creeping closer to reality, with particularly significant strides in recent years: land for the 25,000-sq.-ft. building, which is to include a resource centre, has been assembled, architectural plans drawn and the necessary rezoning approved.

A major roadblock to launching a capital campaign has been securing funding The society has committed $1.5 million to the project.

Surrey-White Rock MLA Gordon Hogg said the palliative-conversion plan is recognition of the fundraising struggle. At the same time, it should make it easier to sell people on the idea of supporting a hospice residence, he said.

“It shows them as being identified, and in that sense, should be a positive message... a recognition that we recognize the value and importance of hospice,” he said.

Thibeault was told the transition will take about six weeks.

He is hoping Peace Arch Hospital and Community Health Foundation will partner with the society – a commitment that would help gain the support of B.C. Housing – and is waiting for an opportunity to formally invite the foundation to come onboard.

PAHCHF’s Jackie Smith didn’t rule out supporting hospice, but said it is “way too preliminary” to commit to the project.

Thibeault said he recognizes the scope of the foundation’s campaign, but hospice care is equally deserving of such support, he said.

“We have to recognize that the needs at the end of life are just as great as the needs at the beginning of life,” he said.

The conversion from palliative to hospice beds means palliative patients at Peace Arch who need acute care will be transferred to tertiary care palliative beds at Abbotsford Regional, Surrey Memorial or Burnaby hospital, or to a general acute bed at Peace Arch.

Thibeault said White Rock Hospice will work with Fraser Health’s team regarding changes needed for the conversion, but he questioned how they might be implemented. A key factor in hospice care is that it is provided in a homelike setting, “and I don’t know how they’re going to do that there,” he said.