Rendering courtesy BBB Architects

Mount Sinai Hospital has received a $6 million donation that will go towards a new healing and respite area of the hospital.

The gift from Jay and Barbara Hennick, will create the Hennick Family Wellness Centre. The Centre will serve as an oasis for patients and their families, as well as visitors and staff. Canadian-artist Sorel Etrog has donated some of his most esteemed works to the hospital, which will be featured in the Centre.

It is part of The Campaign to Renew Sinai, which will see transformation in the hospital's facilities, as well as growth in its research and flagship clinical programs. The space is scheduled to open in early 2015.

Located on the north end of the hospital's main lobby, the wellness centre will have floor-to-ceiling windows surrounded by outdoor patios. From the Centre, patients will be able to see out onto University Avenue.

Extensive research has shown that a wellness centre can help patients deal with stress and psychosocial factors that can affect their health outcomes.

"We know that there is no health without mental health, and the new Hennick Family Wellness Centre will strengthen the physical, emotional, mental, social, environmental and spiritual health for our patients and their families," says Molyn Leszcz, Chief, Psychiatry, Mount Sinai Hospital.