What We Offer (Our Services)

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In-Home Hospice Care
In-home hospice care is provided by trained volunteers who help our clients through practical assistance and emotional support, allowing family members to get out for a few hours or simply to rest. Volunteers receive a minimum of 38 hours of specialized training in hospice care and are supervised by one of our case managers.

This service includes:
- Advocacy
- Companionship
- Complementary therapies (i.e. Reiki, massage)
- Personal care
- Practical assistance
- Referrals and liaison with other service providers
- Respite care (a break for caregivers)
- Information sharing and educational resources
- Life review and legacy work
- Management of care teams comprised of family and friends

Support & Bereavement Services
Bereavement care is provided through individual counselling, group support sessions, and volunteer telephone support. The Hospice maintains a grief and bereavement lending library, also accessible to the community. Our support & bereavement services include:

Individual counselling: We offer one to one bereavement counselling. This counselling may be a single phone call, a one time in person session or more typically, a three month structured course of counselling.

Bereavement support groups: We offer general support groups (groups where clients who have experienced various losses - spouse, child, parent, friend, partner, etc.), and specific loss support groups where clients have all suffered the same loss (e.g. spousal loss groups).

Seasonal support sessions: Around certain holidays like Christmas, mother’s day, father’s day, etc., clients are especially aware of their losses. In response, we offer support and remembrance sessions, usually a two or three hour event, open to people looking to remember their loved one during special times of the year. These events typically involve an opportunity for the participants to mingle, a candle lighting ritual of remembrance, the naming of the deceased loved ones, and a time for the participants to reflect about their loved ones and a closing song.

Anticipatory grief support: We work with the client’s families to help them prepare for the impending death of their loved one. This may include helping clients and families prepare legacy items such as memorial books, future letters to children, mementos, etc.. We may also help clients and families put differences aside so they can be together more fully in the last months, weeks, or days.

Annual Remembrance Event: We are developing an annual remembrance event for families and friends. The event, spiritual in nature but non-religious will be an opportunity for people to come together in celebration of their loved ones.0

Client Tracking and Follow Up: We track bereavement clients for 13 months from the date of first contact. In that time period, we generate invitations to support groups, seasonal support sessions, special events, and the remembrance event. We send condolence cards immediately after the death of a hospice client, and remembrance cards on the first anniversary of the death. For seasonal sessions, we send annual invitations to past clients.