Today is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (#WHPCDay23)

Today is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (#WHPCDay23).

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is an annual unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world.

WHPCD has been marked every year on Saturday October 14th to advocate for better hospice and palliative care services around the world. The WHPCD theme for 2023 is Compassionate Communities.

Together for Palliative Care Compassionate Communities care for people, assist people to live in the place they call home, connect people to services, and raise #awareness about end-of-life issues.

We believe that palliative care working alongside compassionate communities multiplies the ability to respond to the needs of the most #vulnerable in our communities.

For more information, please visit The Worldwide Hospice Palliative Care Alliance (WHPCA)

It is National Hospice Palliative Care Week in Canada

The first full week of May marks National Hospice Palliative Care Week in Canada. Palliative care is person-centered care. That means, in part, that wherever there is a person with a life-limiting illness, palliative care can be provided. If someone is facing significant health-related suffering because of a life-limiting illness, palliative care can help regardless of the setting of care, regardless of a person’s illness or prognosis, regardless of their postal code. Palliative care is an approach that aims to alleviate the suffering of people facing a life-limiting illness. It can be provided in any setting – from hospice, to long-term care, to hospital, to home.

While access to palliative care has improved over recent years, the latest data shows that only 58% of Canadians who died in 2021-2022 received palliative care, usually in a hospital. The “Palliative Care Everywhere” campaign highlights that there are no limits on where a palliative approach to care can be provided and reminds us that wherever people face life-limiting illnesses, end-of-life, and grief, there must also be a place for palliative care.

"This week, we celebrate the indispensable and compassionate care provided by health care workers, volunteers, unpaid caregivers and many others across Canada. The impact of palliative care on a person’s quality of life and on their family is profoundly meaningful, and every person with a life-limiting illness deserves to receive this level of care," said Laurel Gillespie, CEO of CHPCA. “Sadly, less than 60% of Canadians who died last year received care from the discipline that specializes, in part, in caring for the dying. It is time for everyone in Canada to come together to build a future where ‘Palliative Care Everywhere’ is true in every postal code.” Source: CHPCA

C. Elizabeth Dougherty Consulting Spring Newsletter

Loss in the Time of COVID: Exploring the Impact of Grief

Honoured to deliver Loss in the Time of COVID: Exploring the Impact of Grief as the Keynote address at Trillium Health Partners in support of National Hospice Palliative Care Week in Canada.

My sincere gratitude to everyone who joined our discussion via Zoom, for sharing time, reflections and energy - and for acknowledging the impact of trauma, loss and grief for healthcare providers as we continue to serve so many facing trauma, loss and grief during the pandemic.

Best Oral Paper Award at #HPCO2022!

Incredibly honoured as the Clinical Lead to receive the Best Oral Paper Award at #HPCO2022 Hospice Palliative Care Ontario Annual Provincial Conference with our incredible interprofessional team: Ann Vander Berg, Allyson Oliphant, and champion for our project - Dr. Andrea Folic for "Care Beyond Walls: Innovation, Implementation and Evaluation of a Medical Assistance in Dying-Specific Bereavement Support Group for Caregivers"

Exploring the Role of Social Work in Palliative Care

So grateful to speak with my friends and colleagues Drs. Hsien Seow and Sammy Winemaker on their podcast The Waiting Room Revolution.

We explored the role of Social Work in Palliative Care, the value of proactive and compassionate person and family-centred support following diagnosis of any serious illness, exploring loss and grief through to end-of-life and bereavement, creating space for essential conversations, and the healing power of silence.

Follow their podcast for essential tips and tools to navigate the healthcare system following diagnosis of a serious illness. To listen to our conversation, click here

Supporting children and youth who have a family member with an advanced serious illness

Supporting children and youth who have a family member with an advanced serious illness via NACG The Dougy Center & KinderCare

At some point, we all encounter a child or teen who is living with the anxiety of a family member’s life-limiting illness. You can have the opportunity to be a support person, providing empathy as they face the serious illness, grief, loss and perhaps death, of a family member.

Some considerations include: Listen, Acknowledge, Understand, Provide Consistency, Help, Safety, Provide Resources

Source: https://childrengrieve.org/12-resource/309-resources-2

Myths about Palliative Care

It is so important to demystify the incredible scope and breadth of Palliative and end of life Care. For National Hospice Palliative Care Week in Canada (May 2nd- 8th), I am re-posting a great resource from CVH - an incredible source of evidence-informed Hospice Palliative Care resources for individuals, families, healthcare providers or volunteers serving anyone facing life-limiting illness, grief and bereavement. 

An infographic about 10 myths that are often encountered in Palliative Care (also available in French, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan, Chinese, Cree, Hebrew, Inuinnaqtun, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Tagalog).

Source: Canadian Virtual Hospice

COVID-19 Response – Free, Online Palliative Care Modules from Pallium Canada

Enhance your knowledge, skills, and practice in providing high-quality palliative care with these free, self-directed modules.

Pallium, in collaboration with the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), is providing access to essential education on palliative care for all health care professionals in response to this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. In these difficult times, it is more important than ever that all health care providers are equipped with the essential skills to provide compassionate, palliative care to patients in need.

Available modules

These modules are self-directed and completed at your own pace:

• Taking Ownership

• Advance Care Planning

• Decision-Making

• Managing Dyspnea

• Palliative Sedation

• Last Days and Hours

Additional Information

Pallium and CMA are making these 6 Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative Care (LEAP) modules available online for free to all health care professionals for 3 months (March 30 – June 30, 2020). These modules will help provide health care teams with an introduction to the palliative care approach focused on the important knowledge and skills required during the COVID-19 pandemic response. The modules are currently only available in English.

The Pallium Palliative Pocketbook can be found here. This best-selling book is a practical, one-stop resource with easily accessible information to help non-specialist physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and social workers provide a palliative care approach when needed.

Additional learning opportunities to help you expand your knowledge in palliative care can be found on Our Courses page, including our newly available LEAP Online course.

Have any questions? Email anytime at: info@pallium.ca

Source: Pallium Canada

Function in the Midst of Dysfunction: Supporting Families Facing Serious Illness

EXPLORING GRIEF AND LOSS LITERACY: SUPPORTING AND EMPOWERING SCHOOL COMMUNITIES

Am thrilled to be offering a full-day of training on Feb. 1st for the Halton District School Board on “EXPLORING GRIEF AND LOSS LITERACY: SUPPORTING AND EMPOWERING SCHOOL COMMUNITIES”

Will be honoured to be present with so many professionals as we spend the day exploring: 

- Grief and Loss Literacy (related to dying, death and non-death losses)

- Stigma Related to Illness, Dying, Grief

- The Dialogue of Loss

- Support Across School Communities

- Promoting Capacity & Engagement

- Opportunities for Self-Care

Looking forward to sharing some brilliant resources!

Healthcare Continuing Education: Palliative Care Certificate Program at Mohawk College

Excited to be teaching my 9th consecutive semester in the Palliative Care Certificate Program for regulated and certified healthcare professionals (RNs, RPNs, OTs, PTs, RTs, SLPs, Social Workers, Dieticians, Physicians, etc.) with Continuing Education @mohawkcollege 

It is so important to demystify the breadth and scope of this approach to care while highlighting the need for early integration of Palliative Care. Every healthcare provider has an active role to play in supporting anyone (individual or family) facing a complex illness, from time of diagnosis, through to bereavement.

For more information about this holistic and collaborative interprofessional certificate program, please visit: https://www.mohawkcollege.ca/ce/programs/health-and-nursing/palliative-care-multidiscipline-017 

Death: A Part of Life. A 5-Part Mini Series (podcast)

Am honoured to have been a guest panelist on the final instalment of Death: A Part of Life - Part 5: The Grieving Process.

This informative 5-Part radio series with the Dr. Bob Kemp Hospice aired on CHML 900. Each week panelists including caregivers and healthcare professionals convened to open up a conversation about dying, death, grief and loss. The series explores issues such as: coping with the diagnosis of a serious illness; demystifying hospice palliative care; exploring available supports and services; advance care planning; the dying process and grieving which ultimately impacts us all.

The links to the podcasts of Death: A Part of Life are listed below:

 Death, A Part Of Life - Part 1: Palliative Care. 

It’s a fact of life that at one point we all will die. But is it all as simple as that? Bill Kelly and the Bob Kemp hospice will be discussing grief, relief and the acceptance of passing away. On today’s show we discuss what happens when you’re told you don’t have much time left, and whether healthcare is asking too much of caregivers, and whether people are prepared for palliative care.

Death, A Part Of Life - Part 2: Changes To Palliative Care.

For our second show, we will discuss what the palliative care system is now, how it works and what changes need to be made. What does one of our local MPPs hear from his constituents about healthcare and in particular, palliative care? How would changes affect patients? Does fear have a hold on how we make our decisions once we’re diagnosed as palliative? An example of this is whether to choose palliative care or medically assisted death.

Death, A Part Of Life - Part 3: Religion and Palliative Care.

We continue our series this week with two topics. The first one will be discussing the experience of death. Everyone treats death in our world differently. But is it strictly a medical experience or is it a spiritual one? In our second half, we will talk about access to palliative care services in various sectors of our society. How do we help the vulnerable and the community obtain access to proper palliative care?

Death: A Part of Life - Part 4: Bucket lists and preparation.

Life should be celebrated at all stages, whether it be infancy, adulthood and as life comes to a close. So how can we make the most out of life? How can those who are in palliative care achieve their “bucket list” dreams before they pass, and how does it apply when it comes to their own personal circumstances? How do we define a “bucket list”? How wise is it to be prepared for eventual health issues? How should we plan for advanced care and how does it affect the family? How do we navigate through the difficult decisions and pain to provide care for loved ones who are palliative?

Death: A Part of Life - Part 5: The grieving process.

The final instalment in our series sees us discussing grief and how this isn’t just an event that happens in life but a process that families have to go through. How do families grieve the loss of a loved one? How can we support one another and how does grief affect children?

Source: Global News. AM 900 CHML

A Therapeutic Intervention Facilitating Connection in the Context of Life-Limiting Illness

Elizabeth Dougherty - 13th Annual Innovations in Palliative Care

This video provides a brief overview of an expressive arts project that I complete with families of all ages, following the diagnosis of a life-limiting illness, through to end-of-life and into bereavement. Presented at the 13th Annual Innovations in Palliative Care – Leadership, Courage & Community. McMaster University. Department of Family Medicine. Division of Palliative Care. Faculty of Health Sciences (November 2016). This project serves as a therapeutic intervention facilitating communication and honouring connections in the context of life-limiting illness and can be completed by anyone, anywhere at any time. 

It’s a profoundly intimate experience when we are allowed to care for someone… that compassionate connection can transcend so many barriers, and can sometimes even transcend suffering. That connection can be extraordinary.

We all have a role to play in helping to honour someone’s legacy. I believe as Health Care Professionals, like those we care for - we can be courageous in the face of illness, and vulnerability and uncertainty…

We can step out from behind the protection of our roles and in doing so, provide invaluable opportunities for families to connect, and collectively process experiences from time of diagnosis through to end-of-life and into bereavement. 

Source: You Tube. A Therapeutic Intervention Facilitating Connection in the Context of Life-Limiting Illness

Sign the e-petition to support Bill C-277. An Act providing for the development of a framework on palliative care in Canada

Petition to the Minister of Health

Whereas:

• the 2011 Report from the Parliamentary Committee on Palliative and Compassionate Care outlined the importance of quality palliative care, which must be available to all Canadians in order for there to be a real choice at end of life;
• upwards of 70% of Canadians do not have access to quality palliative care; and
• Canadians deserve to be treated with care and compassion during their last days to live as well as they can for as long they can.

Source: E-petitions. House of Commons

Less than 600 Canadians had signed this online petition as of October 1st. 

Please sign the online petition to the Minister of Health is open for signature until November 9, 2016.

Please advocate for a national strategy and universal access to Hospice Palliative Care. Show your support for Bill C-277 to improve access to care for all Canadians.

A framework designed to guarantee all Canadians access to high-quality palliative care

This enactment provides for the development and implementation of a framework designed to guarantee all Canadians access to high-quality palliative care. 

1. This Act may be cited as the Framework on Palliative Care in Canada Act.

Development and implementation

2. (1) The Minister of Health must, in consultation with the representatives of the provincial and territorial governments responsible for health, as well as with palliative care providers, develop and implement a framework designed to give Canadians access to palliative care — provided through hospitals, home care, long-term care facilities and residential hospices — that, among other things,

(a) defines what palliative care is;

(b) identifies the palliative care training and education needs of palliative health care providers; 

(c) identifies measures to support palliative caregivers;

(d) collects research and data on palliative care; 

(e) identifies measures to facilitate a consistent access to palliative care across Canada; and

(f) evaluates the advisability of amending the Canada Health Actto include palliative care services provided through home care, long term care facilities and residential hospices.

Source: Parliament of Canada

I can’t save my daughter from a terminal illness. But we can help save other children from the same fate.

"There is no way to escape losing a sense of who you once were. And after a year (or two), you wake up from this transformation and realize that you were not actually dying; you just felt like you were. And then you must make a choice. One option: You can give into the horror of it all and retire to bed. No one would blame you; it is a tempting alternative that lurks at the back of my brain from time to time even now. The other option is that you take the pain and harness it to do things you could not imagine ever possessing the strength to accomplish. Being around children like my daughter will teach you the very meaning of life."

How might we reimagine the end-of-life experience for ourselves and our loved ones? @OpenIDEO #hpm

“ ‘...I am asking that we make space – physical, psychic room, to allow life to play itself all the way out – so that rather than just getting out of the way, aging and dying can become a process of crescendo through to the end.’ ~ BJ Miller

Each of our lives is a story. As we plan for its final chapter, we have the opportunity to incorporate our passions, relationships, and spirituality to make dying better. How might we make this process more human-centered so we can live fully until the very end? Let’s re-imagine how we prepare for, share and live through the final chapter of our story.”

#Canadian Virtual #Hospice. Information and #Support on #Palliative and #End-of-Life #Care, #Loss and #Grief. @VirtualHospice

"The Canadian Virtual Hospice provides support and personalized information about palliative and end-of-life care to patients, family members, health care providers, researchers and educators."

Observing the Wish to #Die at #Home. #hpm

“We often hear from family members that they find great value in our Guide for Family Caregivers, detailed information on how to handle such common end-of-life symptoms as breathing problems, pain, changes in behavior and sleeplessness. The piece details several signs that may signal a loved one is transitioning from life to death, such as no appetite or urine output, and changes in breathing sounds and patterns.

We encourage people to be a calm presence, to hold the loved ones hand, to call in others who wish to be present, as well as call Hospice for support. Hearing is the final sense to go, so we encourage family members to continue speaking to their loved one, reassuring that everything is all right.

‘What we are trying to do is normalize what they are going through,’ says Joel. Death, after all, is not an aberration but a universal end we all one day meet. ‘We want the family members to know what the very end of life looks like and what they can do when the time comes. What can they do? Literally, just hold your loved one’s hand’.”