Story updated Feb. 24 with new information about patient transfers. Story is developing.

Unanswered questions – at least for the public – abound in in the final days of the Delta Hospice Society’s operation of a hospice and a supportive care centre in South Delta.

The Fraser Health Authority terminated its contract with the society in February 2020,  giving one year’s notice for the society to move out and relinquish the two facilities after the society refused to allow doctor-assisted death on site.

But as the Feb. 24 deadline passed for transferring patients out of the building, it’s still not clear what exactly will happen at the Irene Thomas Hospice or the supportive care centre next door. It’s expected Fraser Health now will give the society 30 days’ notice to vacate the hospice and supportive care centre.

There were seven patients in the hospice when new admissions were stopped Jan. 14. Fraser Health staff entered the premises without advising hospice personnel and began handing out eviction notices to palliative care patients, said society president Angelina Ireland.

“We were not aware they were coming and it was certainly unnecessary to upset our patients as many of them would pass away before the end of the service agreement,” she said.

In late January, Fraser Health wrote to the society proposing a transition strategy as moving day came nearer. That plan would have meant transferring hospice patients to Mountain View Manor, a long-term care facility in Delta.

About a week later the health authority changed its mind about relocating patients when a COVID-19 outbreak was declared at Mountain View.

The B.C. Catholic has learned five of the last seven patients at Delta Hospice have died. The remaining two were transferred to Melville Hospice at Peace Arch Hospital Lodge last week.

In response to a B.C. Catholic inquiry Feb. 10, Fraser Health spokesperson Dixon Tam said patients were given “the option to transfer now to a facility of their choice, or remain at the Irene Thomas Hospice until closer to Feb. 24 and then transfer to another facility.”

It’s not clear why palliative patients were moved. In a media release Feb. 6, Fraser Health said “we intend to continue providing hospice beds at the Irene Thomas Hospice upon gaining possession of the buildings.”

The future of hospice personnel is also hazy. The society issued layoff notices to clinical staff effective Feb. 25 to notify them that the society will no longer be their employer.

According to Tam, Fraser Health is working “to ensure all unionized hospice staff who received layoff notices from the society will have employment opportunities within Fraser Health if they want them.”

With no patients in the hospice and no assurances that staff can continue working in the building, it’s not clear what the vacant building will be used for.

The other building on the same property is the Harold and Veronica Savage Centre for Supportive Care, which for several years has been running day programs including grief counselling and support for people facing cancer or other difficult diagnoses.

Ireland said the supportive care centre and its activities has been entirely funded without government money, and services are provided to the public for free. She feels “violated” that Fraser Health plans to take it over, too.

“These are essential services as far as I’m concerned ... Why don’t we have a new lease for this supportive care building?” She added the centre is not relevant to the assisted suicide controversy, as it is not a hospice and has no patient beds.

Its future is apparently being discussed by Fraser Health and the City of Delta, but no details have been provided.

Tam said, “the City of Delta has reached out to us with a proposal regarding the centre and we look forward to engaging in a discussion with them about possible options related to the future of this facility.” He did not answer The B.C. Catholic’s question about whether those options include grief counselling or other free community programs.

Delta Mayor George Harvie has expressed his desire for the city to become the leaseholder of the supportive care centre and then sublease the building back to the society “with a new board in place.” He also said he hoped to retain current staff and volunteers.

The society built the hospice and care centre for about $8.5 million, and the centre was completed without government help, said Ireland.

The society’s agreement with Fraser Health included $1.5 million per year in government funding for hospice beds, half its budget. The society covered building repairs and maintenance, social workers, and supportive care centre activities, said Ireland. She said she refused Fraser Health’s transition proposal in January because it involved handing over millions of dollars of society assets.

Ireland, who was one of the cancer patients who was helped by the centre years ago, said she will not let the loss of the hospice stop the Delta Hospice Society from continuing to support end-of-life care for people who don’t want assisted suicide provided – even if it takes time for a course of action to be determined.

It was not clear at press time whether the society plans to pursue legal action.