COCHRANE— Helping foster conversations and awareness about end-of-life, the Cochrane and Area Hospice Society has united a board of dedicated volunteers offering supports to those in need.
The founding of the Hospice Society was spearheaded by Seniors Advisory Committee member Della Robertson, who had experience with Alberta Health Services, palliative care and a variety of seniors' initiatives in Cochrane, said Cochrane Hospice Society chair Ozzie Sawicki.
Robertson pulled together a group in Cochrane centred on the idea of creating a hospice society in Cochrane.
At the time many other rural areas had hospice societies and a need was felt to bring an organization to Cochrane and the surrounding area, Sawicki said.
The Cochrane and Area Society officially began in 2017 and since that time has centred on fostering conversations about end-of-life care.
The board has brought together a group of like-minded individuals with experience in end-of-life and palliative care. Together they can share a cross-section of knowledge and understand topics from businesses to the reality of care and steps that need to be taken during an end-of-life journey.
“The role of the Hospice Society is awareness and education,” Sawicki said. “It’s getting information out there about the topics that people end up having to deal with either leading into end-of-life or during end-of-life.”
These topics on advanced preparing and planning can include goals of care, advanced care planning strategies, legal wishes, financial wishes and having a representative in place if they are no longer able to represent themselves.
“When you’re at the beginning of that end-of-life journey you don’t know what kind of physical or mental presence you're going to have,” Sawicki said. “Having that plan in advance is a huge benefit to a family because it eliminates a lot of the administrative duties that have to be dealt with so people can focus on dealing with the needs of the individual going through end-of-life, the needs of the family and the grieving process.”
The Hospice Society has also fostered a network of volunteers in the community who can be trained as palliative volunteers.
Alberta Health Services has a palliative training program available for volunteers that features several guest speakers who are specialists in different areas of end-of-life.
The training helps volunteers learn how to provide palliative care and better understand the experience of those going through the end-of-life process.
“It’s preparing the volunteers through a process that is supported by Alberta Health Services," he said. "These volunteers help spread word-of-mouth about end-of-life, helping further the conversation in the community."
The Hospice Society is also in a position to help those grieving the loss of a loved one. The organization hosts the annual Hike for Hospice event, a weekly Grief Support Walk and has a Remembrance Tree at the Cochrane Ranche House in December.
“It takes time to get over the loss of a loved one, and if they have other people, they can share with it often helps people a lot,” Sawicki said.
Currently, the Hospice Society is looking to grow their place in the community and this includes raising funding to bring palliative beds to Cochrane.
The goal is to allow those who have called Cochrane home to have the opportunity to stay in the community as they approach the end of their life journey.
Sawicki added one of the most important objectives of the Hospice Society is to allow individuals to live at home for as long as they can through home care.
The rural palliative team works in close collaboration with home care out of the Cochrane Health Care and visits individuals in living at home as a team or as support.
To support those who engage in home care the Hospice Society provides care kits as a resource.
“Our contribution is to give people some comforts, some information about how they can get volunteer support and so on. It’s very much a team effort,” Sawicki said.
The Hospice Society will be hosting its Annual General Meeting on Thursday (June 3), Sawicki said.
Going forward into the new year the Hospice Society is hoping to see more Cochranites become members of the organization.
Once COVID-19 comes to an end they are hoping to see volunteers help in the organization of events, meetings and fundraisers.
“They become aware about the importance of end-of-life and they become the spokespeople on our behalf for getting out in the community and talking about that,” Sawicki said. “They become the connectors to the different layers of the community.”
