By the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association
Funding Advocacy
On October 31st, Hospice Palliative Care Ontario hosted the “The Elephant in the Room” luncheon for MPPS at Queen’s Park in Toronto, advocating for increased funding for hospice and palliative care in Ontario.
“As everywhere, hospices have experienced a sharp increase in costs with no annualized Government funding increase since 2016. Meanwhile, the need for this care is skyrocketing as the population is aging and there is a spike in the number of people nearing the end of life,” explains Rick Firth, President and CEO of HPCO to John Best of The Bay Observer. “People don’t want to go to the hospital to die, and often they don’t need hospital-level care, which is three times the cost of hospice care.”
Read more about the push for increased funding for palliative care in Ontario:
https://justsayincaledon.com/bethell-hospice-message-to-queens-park-regarding-hospice-funding/
https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/northern-mpp-calls-for-boost-in-funding-for-hospices-1.6136593
Providing Support
Whether it’s counselling grieving families or comforting cancer patients, kind souls across the country are dedicating their time and money to providing support to patients and families.
Robert Jessup-Ramsay, a hospice volunteer and grief counsellor with the Dorothy Ley Hospice in Etobicoke received a 2022 Urban Hero award for his work supporting grieving spouses.
Having a child suffering from a life-limiting illness is a traumatic, taxing experience. The team at Canuck Place in Vancouver walk with families through every step of the journey, from diagnosis to end-of-life care, ensuring they can live as comfortably as possible.
The new Caregiver Support Program by Hospice PEI, with help from a grant by the PEI Alliance for Mental Well-Being, was developed to allow caregivers to share their experiences with each other, learn new skills, and help manage their mental health.
Community Efforts
Communities in Canada are banding together every week in support if hospices and their patients.
The North Okanagan Hospice Society held a fundraiser at Lake City Casino to raise money for repairs to Vernon House Hospices roof. Ray Skelton of Community Roofing heard this and offered $20,000 in labour for much-needed work on the hospice building.
After being inspired by Florida hospital’s program making stuffed bears to give to cancer patients, Marguerite began The Burden Bears project. Since 2003, they’ve sewn and gifted over 7,000 bears to patients and families – and the project has inspired nearby communities to do the same.
The city of St. Thomas, Ontario will be the home of the first hospice facility in Elgin County, with construction slated to begin in Spring 2023. The fundraising campaign, run by Hospice of Elgin and sponsored by St. Joseph’s Healthcare, recently accepted a generous donation of $500,000 from Doug Tarry Homes.
The Saint Elizabeth Foundation opened the first Windsor location of Journey Home Hospice, a three-bed palliative care facility serving people experiencing homelessness in Windsor, Ontario. With over 500 people a day living on the streets of the city at any giving moment, these three beds will support a chronically under-served population.
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