Rebuilding the Preece House dream
December 29, 2009
Dana Brown
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/696784
It's cold in the Mark Preece Family House.
With exposed wooden beams, floors that aren't finished and some windows not yet installed, the chill easily winds its way through the structure.
Yet it's not hard to feel the warmth that radiates from the project.
This is the second time the house has been built. Last December, a fire that was deliberately set caused more than $1 million in damage to the Barton Street East building, as it was nearing completion.
Charges in connection with the blaze were recently withdrawn against a 36-year-old man. It's a move supported by representatives of the project.
"The overarching thing in this is that ... we're in a positive place," said board chair Sandy Craik.
"It doesn't do anything for us to look back at what happened. I'm sure it was a random act. I don't think that -- and I hope and pray that -- it would never be repeated."
Craik said he thinks, in a way, the blaze has raised community awareness about the project and what it will do.
Looking around the building still in progress, it's not hard to picture how it will become a welcoming home-away-from-home for families of patients in Hamilton hospitals. There will be 14 bedrooms with full baths on the first floor.
Someday, organizers would like to add another 10 bedrooms on the second floor. There will also be a reception area and a family room.
"It is very exciting that this project is coming to completion and that the community has rallied behind the Mark Preece Family House," said Preece's widow, Lisa Tittley.
The idea for the project was born after Preece, an ICU doctor at Hamilton General Hospital, was diagnosed with cancer. He travelled to Pittsburgh for experimental therapy and his family and friends stayed at a home similar to the one being built.
Preece died from melanoma in 1997, at the age of 38.
Those associated with the project say the need for this service is clear.
The site will be leased from Hamilton Health Sciences, which bought a large lot for staff parking, for $2 a year.
Elaine Scrivener, executive director of the house, said HHS has been a "great partner" in the project.
"This is a very great benefit to health care in Hamilton," she says.
Scrivener remembers the morning of the fire. She was at a Rotary meeting accepting a $10,000 donation for the project when someone told her what was happening.
By mid-morning, she says, the volunteer board had gathered at a coffee shop to craft a media release and a unanimous decision was made to plow ahead a second time.
"There was no hesitation," Scrivener says.
Construction started about seven months after the blaze and is now in the final stages of structural work.
The cost of the project has increased by several hundred thousand dollars because of the blaze.
Recently, Nelson High School in Burlington donated $11,000 to the project after weeks of fundraising.
Crews have now replaced materials on the second floor and managed to salvage 60 per cent of the beams on the main floor.
It's anticipated they'll be done in early January. Then the remaining work inside the home will need to be completed.
Scrivener hopes the house will be open by July.
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