Nova Scotia's first stand-alone facility to provide end-of-life care will have five of its 10 beds funded by the province.

Premier Stephen McNeil, who took part in a ceremony to mark the occasion, acknowledged the fact the creation of this hospice has been a long time coming.

"Thank you for your patience," he told supporters of the home. "This has been a long journey for many of you that are part of the hospice society here in Halifax."

The facility is set to open its 10-bed unit in December 2017.

Working from personal experience

The group was formed in 2001 and has been lobbying, advocating and fundraising ever since to try to establish a facility to care for those who are dying.

Wendy Fraser, CEO of Hospice Halifax, talked about the fact both her dad and later her stepmother spent their last days in a hospice near Montreal. Don Fraser died in the fall of 2009 after a stroke. Eileen Fraser died Sunday.

Fraser recalled one of their last conversations.

"I was asking her about how she was feeling about it and how she was feeling about facing end of life and she said she felt OK about it all," she said.

A look inside one of the two buildings to be renovated into Hospice Halifax. (Jean Laroche/CBC)

"And she also knew, she'd been at the hospice already, she knew what it was like and when it was too hard to be at home she would be able to go there."

Two days after that conversation, Eileen Fraser was taken to the hospice.

"She told my stepsister it's time to go to the hospice. It feels like home there too," she said. "To me that's really what hospice is about."