St Joseph's Mercy Hospice has a new name, new location and bigger, brighter premises, writes Lauren Mentjox. It has taken a year and $6.6 million to achieve, but a boarding hostel for girls has been transformed into Auckland's largest hospice. Mercy Hospice Auckland will open next week in College Hill afternearly three decades as St Joseph's Mercy Hospice in Epsom. The move to the refurbished former St Mary's College hostel will make the hospice one of the largest specialist units in the country. It will provide free hospice and community care facilities for up to 200 people at a time, helped by a team of 80 staff, 15 community nurses and more than 250 volunteers. Chief executive Jan Nichols says staff and patients are thrilled with the new premises which were donated by hospice founders the Sisters of Mercy. She says only one room in the old facility had an ensuite. Now, each of the 15 in-patient rooms has an ensuite and an extra room so family members can remain close by. ``We can't believe the space,'' she says. ``It's been a heck of a year, but the rooms are just wonderful.'' The new facility also includes a day therapy room for community patients who come in for aromatherapy, art and music therapy or to relax outdoors in the therapeutic courtyard. The Sisters of Mercy founded the hospice in 1979. It is now run by a board and funded largely by the Auckland District Health Board. It cares for about 900 patients a year and conducts 10,000 home visits. Up to 44 per cent of its patients are aged under 65.
