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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 1984-02-15, Page 5'seme 4 esasem jon ►" a new: permit ,000.00 lued at to the thorny on :of thorny ward :senta- made hod of id that ito the tion be n and 1983 .Barry e and eorge been inery 40.70 illors ludes new ckey, reby uron s to tape wa they 10. w Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, February 15, 1984 --Page 5 nt permits study to determine need, for Huron hospice. By Joanne eneha gain Alexandra Marine and General Hospital in Goderich has received a .12 week. Canada Works •Community Development. Research ' grant of $16,290 to undertake a study to determine if there is a need for a hospice in the Huron County area' - Connie, •Osborn, co-ordinator'' of • the Palliative Care Service at AM&G •hospitat and manager of the research projeEt is to study the feasibility of. the need for a free standing, hospice in the Huron County area,. ' to better meet the needs -of the terminally ill patients and their families, as ivell -as to assess the needs of ' ' families facing ; , a . terminal illness and to explore the need for a home , bereavement 'support program:" While Osborn will oversee, ' the entire project, she will be assiste4 i y Joanne . Sproul, R.N-.A., of Anhui* who;wtll .assess • the familyneeds and use ttlnest of iiomek bereavement support program;:Anne Beane,` Rg.N., of Clinton who will be interviewing, hospital personnel, and Elizabeth= Konarskt; B.A,, of Blyth; who will be exploring the feasibility of a hospice structure; including .= tax liabilities, legalities involving: incorpora- tion, and funding from municipal,.provincial and private sources..., The area surveyed besides Goderich will include Grand Bend, Bayfield, Port Albert, Kincardine, : Lucknow, Wingham, Blyth, Plan special night for bereaved farnilies. . A special night for families who have lost. children '. through .death will •be held at Alexandra Marine : and General Hospital on Tuesday evening, February 28. Bereavement 'counsellors, Doreen Price ,,and Janet Clark will be present to :conduct • .:dOi ssion groups on . this night. Doreen Price, is the former co -.ordinator of home visiting and bereavement follow up at the Palliative Care Unit, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal. She is -married and the mother of five children. While at the Royal Victoria Hospital, she served on the Ber- eavement.Research Program. She now lives in London and has worked with terminally ill children and their families` and served in bereavement follow up as well as working with childfen in play therapy prior to their undergoing treatment. She ' is a bereaved parent. Her son, Randy, died at the age of 17 following a lengthy illness. Janet. Clark of Wingham . is the past president of the Southwestern Ontario Child- hood Cancer Research Association (CCRA). , She served on the CCRA Reachout commit- tee to give parent -to -parent support. She is a bereaved parent, and the mother of Karen in the documentary film "Fighting Back". The Family Night for. Bereaved Parents has been organized through the Palliative Care Service at AM&G hospital. When Margaret Darte of Bereaved Families of Ontario spoke at the Palliative Care work- shop at the hospital in February of 1983, a number of parents who attended expressed an interest in forming a "self help group" similar to the one that exists in Toronto. It is an association of families who ' have lost children through death. As a result, the first local self help group was formed on April 19, 1983 with the aid of a doctor and a volunteer social worker. Janet Clark was also a founding member of this group. The two sets of parents who benefited from the short term sessions held by the group are now resource persons and will be present at the Family Night, All bereaved parents are welcome to attend and to bring along the brothers and sisters of their deceased children if they feel they are old enough to benefit. The evening does not commit anyone to become part of a bereaved parents group should one be formed. • The Family Night 'will be held in the hospital board room on the first floor from 7.30 - 9.30 p.m. It is limited to 20 persons. For further information, contact Marian Hindmarsh at 524-9200 or call the hospital at 524-8323, Ext. 271. Future plans are now also underway to conduct a second self: help session for widows and widov.Iers. Brussels, Benmmiller, Clinton, Seaforth., Varna,Hensel', Zurich and Exeter. The project will conclude on April 13 with a. written report based on research findings. This report,.will be then sent to government health fficials to .act upon. Osborn 'says the project was inspired by Michael Owen of Bayfield. a cancer patient and . 'volunteer with the Palliative • Care Service at AM&G hospital. He felt a hospice would serve a great need in the area and although he died last September, a Hospice Committee: followed up on his dream and applied for the . research grant which was approved just before Christmas. Hospices became prominent in the 1960s in England and came to North America in the 1970s with the development of Hospice of New ` Haven in Connecticut. "Hospice. means" a way of caring, of nurturing dying patients as they pass through the final stage of living. . •Hospice is . an integrated program of services for managing physical, pain and. other symptoms, as well as the emotional, social and spiritual concerns of: the patient and family. The 'primary goal is to maintain die quality of life for the patient and family throughout the patient's last months and days. .Care .continues to be : offered to the .family through the period of bereavement. Bereavement follow up... is a form .of preventative medicine, explains Osborn, as studies show that the bereaved are a high .risk population with a high morbidity and mortality rate compared to the general population: Osborn says that hospice can mean many different things. .One aspect of hospice is Palliative Care Service which offers support to the terminally ill andheir families both within the hospital and at home. This service has been offered at AM&G since March of 1982 with the help of 13 volunteers co-ordinated by.Osborn. • - Another aspect of hospice is a special unit within a hospital. This usually consists of a room with a home like atmosphere, offering privacy for families. The free. standing hospice ,is n' separate building, usually near a hospital, . staffed with medical personnel and volunteers but witha.''more home like appearance= and without the regimentation of a hospital. • "This is not meant to be a reflection on our hospitals," says Osborn . who sees hospice and hospitals as two separate ideas with separate goals. • Approximately , 70 per cent of Canadians now die in institutions such as hospitals. The skills of the institutions and the 'needs of the. patients and'their families are mismatched, resulting 'in isolation. and compounded suffering. Dr. Balfour Mount, a recovered cancerpatient who set up the first Palliative Care Unit in Canada m 1975, recognized the' misalignment between , the needs of the terminally ill and the four goals of a general hospital to ' investigate, diagnose, cure and prolong life: Dr. Balfour journeyed to England where he studied concepts of hospice and brought them back to Canada. The Canadian government is extremely interested in palliative care and hospice since many studies have shown that "millions of dollars could be saved using such services. Osborn says there are some basic goals involved in palliative are and hospice. These are: to keep the terminally illpatient at home as long as possible; to supplement and not duplicate existing services; to educate health professionals and lay people; to support the - family as a unit of care; to help • the terminally ill patient to live as fully .as possible (focus on the last days of living instead of dying); and to keep costs down. "Basically, our research - project will identify the needs of the terminally ill, if these needs are being `met and. if not, how they can be met," says Osborn. If the- project reveals theneed• for a free standing hospice in the 'area, Osborn says she would not be worried so much about the costs• of establishing one as she would be about the funding. for its ongoing operation. 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