Construction has started on a hospice in Calgary that will provide a home away from home for terminally ill children and their families.

The $12.5-million Rotary/Flames House, slated to open next summer, is the first children's hospice in Alberta and one of only six in North America.

Calgary Flames defencemen Rhett Warrener, and Lucas Bekker, 6, celebrate the groundbreaking ceremony for the Rotary/Flames House Monday.
(CBC)

The Alberta government will contribute $4.65 million to construct the facility, it announced Monday at a groundbreaking ceremony. The Rotary Clubs of Calgary and the Calgary Flames' Foundation for Life have already donated $2.5 million to the project, and the remaining costs have been raised through private donations.

The hospice, which will be built next to the colourful Alberta Children's Hospital, is modelled after a two-storey home and will feature 11 bedrooms and two family suites.

Paul and Jennifer Bekker raised $500,000 for the hospice, because that kind of comforting home setting was not available when their daughter Kira, still a baby, was diagnosed with incurable Leigh's disease, which leads to the degeneration of the central nervous system.

Construction officially began Monday on Alberta's first children's hospice, next to the children's hospital in Calgary.
(CBC)

Doctors gave Kira only weeks to live but she battled the disease for almost a year. Jennifer Bekker said the family only had two options at the time.

"We could take Kira home and manage her complex medical needs at home, with no training and little experience, or we could choose to stay at the hospital, where we could let the professionals do the hard work and we could just cuddle her and spend time with her."

Kira died from the rare and terminal condition in 2005, two days shy of turning 19 months.

"We wanted it to have a positive impact and we wanted to come out of it doing good things in Kira's memory," Jennifer Bekker said Monday.

"I know this facility is going to provide support, comfort [and] an extra level of security."

Families in the type of situation the Bekkers dealt with will benefit greatly from the hospice, said Xina Chrapko, manager of the Rotary/Flames House.

"It is home like it is an alternative to home," Chrapko said. "So if a child can be at home, they can be at the hospice."