An Ontario woman has penned an open love letter to Halifax, thanking the city and its residents for the kindness shown to her and her family while they cope with the loss of her mother.

Allison Gertridge says Haligonians embraced her family while her mother spent her final days in the QEII Infirmary, eventually passing away from a stroke when a 17-year-old mechanical heart valve failed.

“I wanted to write you a love letter to thank you for surrounding me and my family with kindness while we went through it all,”says Gertridge in her letter, which was published in the Chronicle Herald.

Gertridge then marked out a map of people, places and events that left a lasting impression and made her three-week stay in the city a little easier.

Among those singled out are the doctors and nurses at the QEII.

“There are too many nurses, doctors and surgeons to mention here; we are grateful to you for the excellent care and for the counselling you provided us,”says Gertridge. “Halifax, how special you are to provide care for people from across the province and even from “away.”

“It helps the people that care for them to care for people in a broader level than just the clinical care to connect with them human to human, person to person,” says Sandra Janes, director of customer service at the QEII.

Gertridge also acknowledged the staff and residents at Point Pleasant Lodge, a not-for-profit specialty hotel for people undertaking medical-related travel in the Halifax area.

“It may not have been possible for us to be here with mom at all, had it not been for this special place for families,”continues Gertridge.

Michael Manuel, the general manager at Point Pleasant Lodge, says he was touched by her kind words.

“Very humbled by it that someone would take the time in the middle of everything they are going through to share that type of feedback,” says Manuel.

Gertridge also pays tribute to restaurants, businesses and local landmarks like Pier 21, which welcomed her grandfather to Canada.

“Thank you, Halifax, for welcoming my mother’s family to Canada.”

After long days at the hospital, Gertridge found peace and serenity at Point Pleasant Park, and says Citadel Hill will forever hold memories of her parents’ special love.

“Her hospital room looked directly out so at the end of the night, when my father would leave her, he would stand at the top and wave to her room,” Gertridge tells CTV News.

Gertridge says, the more she wrote, the more she realized everything she loved about Halifax was also what she loved about her mother.

“My mother really is like this, she’s unassuming and open and charitable and sweet…that was the connection I made with it,” she says.

“I think it was maybe metaphorically a way to say goodbye to my mom as well as the city.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Marie Adsett