First Children’s Hospice in the Northeast Planned for Danbury
Regional Hospice Center for Comfort Care and Healing in Danbury is currently raising money to build a dedicated center for dying children.
Cynthia Roy, President, and CEO of Regional Hospice has a vision of a dedicated center for dying children that will be added within its existing building on Danbury's Milestone Road according to an article in Connecticut Magazine.
Roy lost her best friend to leukemia in high school and at the time there were no options available where she could turn for support. In the CT Magazine article, Roy explained,
I wanted to have a space for kids that was unique and different. I want it to be special, I want it to be playful, I want it to be light and airy, and I want it to be just for kids.
The new center will be named the 'North Star' where the ceilings in each of the kid's bedrooms will be decorated with stars which signifies hope. $1 million has already been donated with $15 million being the eventual fundraising goal through a nonprofit 'Building Under the Stars' initiative.
If everything comes together as planned, Roy is hoping construction will begin this spring with the new wing completed by early 2021. The children's rooms will look out over the woods with walking paths and a playground. She said,
Hospice is not about dying, it's about living.