Hospice hoping for permanent home

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This article was published 19/04/2024 (893 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Members of a Westman non-profit have a dream that one day they can help people go through the last stages of their lives in a home-like, peaceful setting inside a permanent hospice.

Since the late 1980s, volunteers with the Westman Hospice Association have sat with and supported hundreds of people along with their families and friends, but have never had a location they could call their own, said Betty Hinch, the organization’s president.

“There is a definite need in Brandon for hospice,” said Hinch, a registered nurse who works on a casual basis at the Brandon Regional Health Centre and as a clinical education facilitator at Assiniboine Community College.

“Hospice is different than the palliative unit at the Brandon hospital. The third floor, or A3, at the Assiniboine Centre is where the palliative unit is, with 12 beds and the staff there are wonderful, they’re tremendous,” Hinch said.

“But with hospice, it is someone’s final journey, and you have decided that you want comfort care in a setting like a home environment, beautiful and peaceful.”

Westman Hospice has about eight clients right now, said Hinch. The time commitment of a volunteer can range from two to eight hours depending on one’s schedule and availability.

“Sometimes you play cards, just sit quietly with them, or sit and chat. Sometimes it’s so a spouse can go out and have a coffee or go shopping,” Hinch said.

Westman Hospice Association was incorporated in 1992, but was known in the late 1980s as Westman Association for Terminal Care Hospice, or WATCH, said Terri Miller, the non-profit’s vice-president.

But one thing that hasn’t changed in more than 30 years, she added, is the support that volunteers provide.

“Our volunteers are trained and certified through Prairie Mountain Health as palliative volunteers. They go to meet with people in their homes, at the hospital or personal care homes. They are assisting people at the end of life,” said Miller, a psychiatric nurse who runs a counselling practice in Brandon.

Carla Mitchell, palliative care volunteer and bereavement co-ordinator with PMH, teaches the training course in six sessions over three days.

The training begins with an explanation of what palliative care is and the resources available. Volunteers also learn how to understand someone who is dying and the importance of whole-person care, including spiritual and cultural elements.

Additional sessions include how to help people feel heard, the importance of understanding and acknowledging grief and loss, and making sure volunteers know how to care for themselves and “refill their cups,” said Mitchell.

“Our volunteers are coming alongside people who are in really difficult times and it does take a special skill set, and that’s what the training program is really all about — to come alongside and hold space and not feel like you need to somehow make it better to cheer someone up or to gloss over the struggles that they’re having,” she said.

“But rather, our volunteers are there to really listen to people and just let them know that they’re not alone and to kind of shine a light on that path that these clients and families are walking because it is inherently difficult,” Mitchell said.

Besides on-site visits with someone in the last stage of their life, the support extends to “loved ones after death,” said Miller.

“We’re there for grief after as well, and that is a very big piece that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. We’re also there for families — weeks, months and even years later. People still need to have someone reach out to them,” Miller said.

Miller, Hinch and the six other board members all share the same dream of one day having a “brick and mortar” permanent location for their clients receiving hospice care.

The dream is “huge,” Miller said.

“We’re hoping this would be the first of many — and applicable for rural areas, too. We’d like a place with four to six beds where families have room to come and visit, a place where everyone can be together, but be separate at the same time,” she said.

“There can be children in the backyard having fun, while at the same time someone else can have it very quiet and peaceful — whatever they would be needing. Everything would be accessible, and it would be staffed 24-7, with nursing staff, mental health support and all the amenities with housekeeping, laundry, maintenance — all of that.”

Westman Hospice’s vision for a permanent structure is still in the beginning stages — they are looking for partners, a location and funding.

The non-profit is operated by volunteers with no paid staff member, which means it qualified for and recently received $10,000 in funding from the United Way.

Miller said she knows there’s a funding challenge ahead, but insisted everyone should have their wishes met when it comes to their end of life, and receive compassionate, dignified care.

“We know from our research — to be in a home that would accommodate four to six people is about $1 million a year, and that’s after we’ve purchased it. And that’s our proposal to Prairie Mountain Health. That they take that on, and then leave us to continue to raise money, educate, advocate and support,” Miller said.

A meeting has been scheduled between board members and Prairie Mountain Health CEO Treena Slate for May 13 in Brandon.

“So, in the meantime,” said Miller, “we will continue to plan fundraising events.”

Hike for Hospice, a national fundraising and awareness event, is scheduled for May 25 with a walk from 10 a.m. to noon beginning at the Heritage Co-op on Richmond Avenue in Brandon. There will be a hotdog sale as well.

And on June 15, Westman Hospice is planning its inaugural golf tournament at Glen Lea Golf Course, about six kilometres east of the Wheat City.

But the immediate and ongoing need, said Hinch, is volunteers.

“I wish more people would realize just how fulfilling it is to be able to help somebody, someone who needs you on their last journey, and if they can be in a home-like environment, it’s so much better.”

For information on how to volunteer, or to register for Westman Hospice fundraising events, call 204-720-8563.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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