The KGH Foundation has launched an $8 million ‘Better Together’ fundraising campaign to build a home away from home for families of out of town patients.
JoeAnna's House will be built behind the hospital, at Abbott Street and Royal Avenue, and will be able to house around 20 families.
“As a leading referral hospital for over 75,000 residents in the southern interior, at any given time, one in four beds at KGH is occupied by a patient from outside the Central Okanagan,” said Dr. Michael Ertel, Emergency Department physician and Vice President of Medicine and Quality for Interior Health.
Currently, families usually have to stay in hotels, either at a discounted rate or with financial support through foundations, however with low hotel vacancies and financial burdens, it is becoming increasingly difficult.
Creston resident, Lisa Dear, says the house would have been a big help for her in 2016. Her newborn son had to stay at the hospital for more than 30 days after being born 7 weeks premature.
“Our hotel was located a 10 minute drive from the hospital and I wasn’t able to drive because I had just come out of a C-section, my husband was only able to stay with us for the week,” she says “It was a really big challenge, I wanted as a mother to be a good mother and to stay with baby as long as possible but it was hard.”
The house is named after the late Joe and Anna Huber, founders of Prestige Hotels and Resorts. Their family is donating $1 million towards the project in their honour.
Construction is expected to begin next October, with the house up and running by fall 2019.