What Is Hospice Palliative Care?
As individuals are experiencing their end-of-life journey, they are supported and able to live as fully and comfortable as possible. Hospice respects and honours the person’s culture and traditions, in a home-like environment.
The Need
Dying is a part of living and as we die, we are still the same person, and that person needs their family, friends and community. The need for palliative care will touch every family in our community at some point; having the right facilities and infrastructure in place with a hospice residence is necessary to ensure families can spend time with their loved one instead of driving out of town, worrying about care and pain management, and feeling isolated from their support network.The hospice will provide a calm, peaceful, home-like environment where individuals with life-limiting illness, as well as their families and loved ones, are supported through the resident’s final stages of life.
In October 2021, CD Howe published a report, Expensive Endings: Reining In the High Cost of End of-Life Care in Canada. Commentary 608. (Quinn, et al. Expensive Endings: Reining In the High Cost of End-of-Life Care in Canada. Commentary 608. Toronto: C.D. Howe Institute October 2021). The report states that: “In 2014, the Auditor General of Ontario found that Ontario had only 270 hospice beds and recommended creating seven-to-10 per 100,000 population (945-1,350 beds) based on benchmarks from other countries (Auditor General of Ontario 2014” page 14). Accepting the recommendation from the Auditor General of Ontario, based upon the current population of 203,101 in North Halton (Milton and Halton Hills), North Halton should have between 14 to 20 beds. There are currently only 16 beds for the total Region of Halton and no hospice beds in North Halton. Projecting ahead to the year 2031, North Halton should have 21 to 30 beds.
The easiest way to understand why a hospice residence is essential to North Halton is to hear the stories of others. The Townsend Smith Foundation works with those who have been touched by hospice, who provide palliative care, or who wish there was a hospice available for their loved one, within North Halton. We have compiled a selection of videos highlighting the need for hospice and invite you to visit our YouTube channel to explore more content.
” I am an RN working in the home-based palliative care community in North Halton. I deal directly with managing the transfers of patients from home to Hospice. Because there is no Hospice in North Halton, patients are transferred out of their familiar surroundings. This causes stress for patients. Families can find this to be difficult commuting out of town to visit their loved one. As our community grows the need to have more Hospice beds locally is of utmost importance. ” Jennifer RN, North Halton in Home Palliative Care