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Jacobo Lopez maneuvered his wheelchair into the new Dorion Family Pediatric Centerjust moments after he helped cut the ribbon officially opening the facility at Community Hospice & Palliative Care’s Mandarin campus.

Left with injuries from a car crash some years ago that are serious enough for the 18-year-old to use hospice services, he also volunteers to help children and families who also need the Sunbeam Road facility’s pediatric services.

But as he went into the 8,300-square-foot facility on Thursday, he realized that one of the butterflies released during the ribbon cutting was on his shoulder. He smiled as he remembered that his late sister, Sofia Garofolo, loved butterflies too.

“I feel amazing. When I walked in, I wasn’t expecting it to be this beautiful,” he said. “With the butterfly on my shoulder, it felt amazing because tomorrow will be one year and one month without my sister. … I love helping others as well with similar disabilities as me, and I just love to help.”

Community hospice has had pediatric programs for decades, going to homes to help children deal with complex medical conditions and to help their families work through their deaths. But assembling all of its Community PedsCare services into a new facility built inside the main center is a first-of-its-kind in Florida, and “the heart of everything we do,” Community PedsCare facility director Patrice Austin said.