Sometimes, one of the greatest gifts a person can bestow is the gift of time. This may be especially true for those facing the most difficult stage of their life. The Squamish Hospice Society dedicates itself to giving comfort and companionship to the terminally ill and their loved ones, and the volunteer organization has already achieved notable success in its October inception.
"Those who accept hospice care all agree that it's a very good thing," said Squamish Hospital palliative care coordinator Pam Lang. "Especially near the end when the family is very tired and emotional. They can use that hospice worker as a respite person and they know them and trust them by that point."
The Squamish Hospice Society was reestablished last October, years after the group folded despite its popularity. The organization dissolved primarily because there were too few members to fulfill the town's needs. So the society's newest directors are holding a second volunteer recruitment campaign at the end of the month to ensure that doesn't happen again.
The modern hospice movement was founded by Dame Cicely Saunders in 1967 as a philosophy of care for terminally ill patients and their caregivers.
"You matter because you are," states Saunders' motto. "You matter to the last moment of your life, and we will do everything we can not only to help you to die peacefully, but to help you live until you die."
The task can be daunting for volunteers as well as for patients and family members who may not be ready to accept the inevitable. But Dr. Judith Fothergill, society vice-chair and palliative care specialist, hopes the hospice movement helps change society's perception of death.
"The reason I've been drawn to palliative care is there's this huge focus on fixing things, curing things, prolonging life, and there's this sort of gap when it comes to the inevitability that we all will die," said Fothergill. "People are sometimes ill-prepared to know how to deal with that and how to go on that journey themselves or how they're loved ones go on that journey with them. In our society at the moment we've not perhaps paid as much attention as we could when things aren't medically technical. But it can make a huge difference for somebody in that time of their life." Volunteers need a considerable amount of preparation before taking on the endeavor, and through a two-day workshop and lots of discussion, the society's directors decide who fits the criteria, and whether the potential volunteer is adequate for the job. Even more work is involved in pairing volunteers with patients, and that job lies primarily in the hands of hospice coordinator Hazel Giese.
A lot of thought, care and debate goes into matching volunteers with patients, according to Lang. Recent successes included pairing German and French patients with people who speak their language.
The Hospice Society can also connect patients and families to resources. Ombudsman Grace Halvorson's job is to provide patients and their family with the funding and benefits available to them. A few examples, said Halvorson, are government funds for families with English as a second language, education benefits for children of terminally ill patients and paid work leave for patients' caregivers.
Hospice workers understand why patients and families may be reluctant to agree to hospice care when their doctors refer them, said Fothergill, but the rewards are always felt.
"By accepting a hospice volunteer they may feel that they're accepting that they're about to die. That is not the case," said Fothergill. "Our volunteers can be more helpful if they travel more of the journey with them. So it doesn't mean that you're about to die if you're offered a volunteer. It means that you're about to embark upon this journey and there's a volunteer who can travel it with you and perhaps the earlier in the journey they start, the more you'll get out of it."
Those interesting in becoming a volunteer or signing up for the February workshop must call coordinator at Hazel Giese (604) 815-0720. Financial donations can be sent to The Hospice Society Box 1365 Squamish, BC, V8B 0A9.
