For families travelling to Nanaimo for their child's health care, the Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island is now fundraising to build a place for them to stay while accessing the hospital and nearby health services.
Announced at a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday, Oct. 8, the project is anticipated to cost $10 million and be the third home in the foundation's home away from home program, with other buildings located in Victoria and Campbell River.
The 16-bedroom facility will be built in Nanaimo Regional General Hospital's parking lot on the northeast side, near the Nanaimo Public Health Unit and Kiwanis Village Lodge long-term care.
A total of $7 million has already been raised through assurances from the community, including Coastal Community Credit Union, Budget, the Rogers Foundation, and an anonymous donor who offered a $2 million gift.
It will operate on a 40-year lease through an agreement with Island Health, and the parking taken for the build is expected to be replaced elsewhere. Behind the house, in an overgrown fenced-in area, a small playground is planned.
“It’s wonderful to see the foundation expand into Nanaimo to support families north of the Malahat who need to travel to access care for their kids,” said Paul Murray, foundation board chairperson, in a press release. “Jesse’s House will have such a large impact for generations to come, and we are excited to work alongside the community to bring it to life.”
The build is named after Nanaimo resident Sheri Shanahan's late daughter, who was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit at Victoria General Hospital after being born nine weeks early. While in Victoria, Sheri stayed at the foundation's home away from home program site, Jeneece Place.
At the groundbreaking, Sheri said she learned how lucky she was when, after Jesse was transported back to Nanaimo, she learned there was no similar program site in her hometown.
"I met families who were struggling, sleeping in motorhomes on the street, paying for hotels they couldn't afford or driving back and forth just to be near their baby," Sheri said. "Jesse came home when she was six weeks old, those were the most joyful days, but just five days later she passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. That moment shattered us, it changed our lives forever and in our grief we knew we had to do something meaningful."
Following Jesse's death, she raised $30,000 that was then matched by the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation for a central monitor system at the neonatal intensive care unit in Nanaimo, before creating the Jesse's Gift Foundation to fundraise and advocate for a home away from home in Nanaimo.
"Two years after Jesse passed, the Children's Health Foundation of Vancouver Island joined our journey, they helped us move from heartbreak to action, guiding the vision step, by step to reality. Truly this project wouldn't be happening without them."
Mayor Leonard Krog also spoke at the groundbreaking, stating that the work being done by the foundation to ensure families can be there is "incredibly important."
"I say this not to elicit any sympathy, because I recovered well and I'm fine, but I was severely burned. I was raised in Coombs, my family was in Coombs," the mayor shared. "I remember being four years old in that [Nanaimo] hospital and every day desperately hoping that some member of my family would be able to come down and see me, because it is lonely when you are a kid."
Construction is estimated to be complete by spring 2027.
Donations can be made at http://islandkidsfirst.com.
