What
is Foothills Country Hospice Society?
The Foothills Country
Hospice Society (FCHS) is a grassroots community
sponsored organization dedicated to providing expert
compassionate care to people who are terminally ill
and to their families.
FCHS is directed by a volunteer board of directors
and is a registered charity and not for profit Society.
The Board's primary work to date has been to establish a
vision, raise funds and awareness, and to ultimately
design and
build one of the first rural, purpose-built, free
standing adult Hospice homes in Canada.
On January 28,
2008, the Foothills Country Hospice accepted its
first patient.
The fruition of the Board's vision has been realized
through the dedication and effort of over
100 volunteers from the Foothills area
south of Calgary, Alberta.
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What
is Hospice palliative care?
Hospice palliative
care is an approach to care that recognizes the
importance of many aspects of living and caring as
people approach a time of death. Paying
attention to physical needs, supporting
conversations, and practical preparation, providing
expert pain and symptom management, allowing
opportunity for spiritual reflection, and
preparation, dealing with family issues, and
supporting friends and families before and after the
death of a loved one are all key components of
hospice palliative care. Helping people live
as well as they can, as they recognize approaching
death, can provide a healing and hope filled time.
Prior to the Hospice
being open, many people had to leave their families
and community supports in order to receive care as
they approached death, since there is no hospital in
Okotoks nor a full time Home Care service. The
desire to have people remain with family and friends
in their home community was the motivating force
behind FCHS' drive to build the Hospice home in
service of our communities' most vulnerable members.
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Can I sleep in my loved one's suite?
Family or
friends who are invited by our patients may
certainly sleep in their loved one's suite. Patient rooms
are
furnished with comfortable sofas, a queen size hide-a-bed,
satellite TV, DVD and wireless internet.
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Are
there over-night guest suites?
The Foothills
Country Hospice
provides two suites for
use by invited guests. The rooms are available on a
first come first served basis and include a bathroom
with shower, two single beds, a queen size
hide-a-bed, satellite TV, DVD player and wireless
internet.
A small fee of $40 per night is charged which may be
paid by major credit card, debit or personal cheque.
To book our guest suites call
(403) 995-4673 or ask reception upon your arrival.
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Can visitors purchase meals from the kitchen?
FCH's food
services offers home style meals for patients,
guests and visitors. Patient meals are provided at
no cost to the patient while a small charge to help
recover a portion of our food cost is charged to
visitors and guests. Families must pre-order
meals due to the limited extra meals. Lunch
has to be ordered by 10:30am and Supper by 2:30pm.
We are unable to accommodate over four family
members for meals at any given time. Please ask
reception for a list of restaurants that deliver to
the Hospice.
The kitchen is open 7:30 AM to 7PM.
Cash, personal cheque, Visa/Master cards
accepted.
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Can we have birthday parties and other special
events?
We encourage
families to share special dates and events with
their loved one. If you are thinking of a
party please plan on supplying your own cake, ice
cream etc. Kitchen staff are unable to cater these
types of events. Please discuss this with our Food
Services staff for more details.
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Can guests prepare their loved one's favorite meal?
Absolutely,families are
encouraged to participate in the creation of a home
like atmosphere. If family meals are an important
part of your loved one's daily life and you would
like to prepare their favorite meal, you can
prepare the meal at home and bring it in and
families can reheat in the coffee nook microwaves. Guests are also welcome
to use our self serve mini kitchen for reheating
their special foods or to snack on complementary
coffee and tea and cookies and muffins for a small
donation. If you can show proof of a
valid Alberta Food Safe Certificate you may be
permitted to prepare the meal in our kitchen but you
will be required to supply your own groceries. For
more information please email:
cook@countryhospice.org or call the
kitchen manager at 403 995-4673.
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What can I do to
help?
The Foothills
Country Hospice relies on volunteers to provide a
wide range of services such crafts, bedside reading,
reception service and kitchen help.
To learn more about our
volunteer program please click here. To view a
list of existing volunteer opportunities
click here.
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How can I make a
donation?
Our annual
operating budget is in excess of 1.8 million
dollars. Charitable donations over $20 are receipted
and help us meet our financial requirements.
Click here to learn
more about our donation program or email
executivedirector@countryhospice.org
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Who
can use the Hospice?
Those approaching the end of their lives
because of a terminal illness and who wish to live in a
Hospice until their death, will usually be admitted
within the last three months of their lives.
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How can my loved one get admitted to the Hospice?
All Hospice admissions for Calgary and area are managed
centrally through the 'Pathways' system. A palliative
care expert - usually a doctor or nurse in the Regional
Hospice Palliative Care Service - either at hospitals or
in the community, can request a hospice placement for a
person after assessing their suitability for this kind
of facility.
Criteria include having a terminal diagnosis with an
expected length of life of less than 3 months. People
being admitted to a hospice agree that they are not
seeking life prolonging interventions nor further
investigations.
People can view hospices in order to help them indicate
their preferences amongst the various facilities.
However due to significant current bed capacity
constraints, a person's choices cannot always be
assured. Proximity is certainly considered.
Since there is often a waiting list for hospice
placement, criteria have been established by Alberta
Health Services in order to assign a bed according to
care needs. People needing admission who are currently
residing in their own homes usually are assigned the
highest priority.
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Why
is hospice care needed here?
Early in its work, FCHS conducted a needs assessment
with assistance from collaborators in the University
of Calgary Faculty of Nursing. There was a
demonstrated need for a facility that can provide
palliative care for people living in the Foothills
and surrounding communities area. It is well recognized that three
pillars of formal care are required in a community
to provide care for those who are terminally ill –
expert support in people’s homes, hospice care and
hospital care. At different times in a
person’s illness, any of these locations of care
may need to be accessed. In our Foothills' and
surrounding
communities which cover a very large area
geographically, there are two communities with
excellent hospitals. In Okotoks, having the
largest and fastest growing population, there are
however no hospitals and no long term care beds.
Recently, a greatly appreciated part time palliative
home care service was established which in tandem
with the FCHS, are the foundation for two of the
three pillars of formal care.
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How
much has been raised and from what sources?
Since becoming a
Registered Charity, the Society has raised
approximately $4 million through the generosity of
many. Led by substantial advocacy and monetary
donations from Leslie and David Bissett, and a
generous donation of 8.4 acres of land near Okotoks,
Alberta by Dr. Jim Hansen and his family, FCHS has
been supported by many individuals, corporations,
charitable organizations, Province of Alberta,
granting agencies, service clubs, and Town and
Municipal District Councils. The Board and
volunteers have contributed over 20,000 hours of
voluntary service to raise funds, develop community
awareness, and build our Hospice home. Working
with thousands of supportive partners in the
community, we are thrilled to have been able to open
the doors of the Hospice January 28, 2008.
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What
does the Hospice home include?
The home is a 13,500
square foot facility nestled in a grove of aspens,
overlooking the Sheep River valley and the Town of
Okotoks to the south, with a view of the mountains
to the west and farmers’ fields to the east.
There are 8 self
contained patient rooms, two family rooms, a
spiritual space, commercial kitchen, meeting and
quiet rooms, and space for staff. Family
members can stay with their loved ones or rest in
separate guest family rooms, and can visit at any time.
The rural setting allows space for renewal and
contemplation for families, friends and staff.
It also provides opportunity for patients and
families to pursue some of the activities of living
that provide personal meaning to them, just as would
be possible in their own homes.
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Who
will help with care?
Care involves expert
pain and symptom management in order to relieve
physical suffering and help people live as well as
they can as they approach death. Just as
importantly, care addresses emotional and spiritual
dimensions and supports families in this journey.
Expert care providers include physicians and nurses,
social workers and spiritual care providers.
The philosophy of care at Foothills Country Hospice
ensures that expert staff will always be available
to help to the degree that best fits the needs and
skills of each patient and their family. Some
require almost total care from our professional
staff while others may need assistance only for
particular hours or for particular aspects of care.
Occasionally patients and their families want to direct
some of their own medication and personal care
routines, always within the bounds of expert medical
and nursing direction. Personalizing and
humanizing the experience, paying close attention to
the expressed needs of each person we serve is key.
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Why
are we advocating for Hospice care?
Hospice care is a key
pillar of effective and compassionate palliative
care services within one’s own community. We
are supportive of expert, holistic palliative care
in any setting. But there are also health
system and demographic issues that are important to
recognize.
Acute care hospital
bed capacity is in very short supply. Waiting
lists for hospice beds in the cities are often very
long, such that people wanting to enter a hospice
sometimes die prior to a bed becoming available.
Costs at home can be substantial, and the cost of
time away from work for multiple family members to
care for someone at home for months can also be very
high. With current human resource challenges,
professional staff is difficult to assure for home
based care. We also know that some seniors
living in their own homes do not have spouses or
family supports to care safely for them.
Providing safe
and expert care in an environment most conducive to
the unique aspects of this journey, and for
substantially less cost than hospital care is a
direction that must be pursued. Statistics
Canada projects a 33% increase in the rate of deaths
in Canada by the year 2020. Senator Carstairs’
2005 Senate report, ‘Still Not There, Quality End
of Life Care: A Progress Report’, indicates that
only 15% of Canadians have access to integrated
palliative care programs. We know that most
programs that exist are in major cities. Very
few are available for rural residents.
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Will
there be charges for staying in the Hospice?
In keeping with our
philosophy of a community defining itself by how it
cares for its own most vulnerable members, the
Foothills Country Hospice Society provides
our Hospice home
without charging patients for cost of care. Small
daily charges to recover non-patient care costs are
charged to family members
for their meals and guests who stay in our overnight guest rooms. Guest
rooms, offering private ensuite, two twin beds, a
queen size hide-a-bed couch, wireless internet and
satellite TV are billed at $40 per night. Annual
operating costs are in excess of
$1.8 million.
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-
Reception—first
contact with callers, patients, families, and visitors.
Answering phones, logging visitors, possible clerical work.
Reports to hospice management team.
-
Clerical/admin—typing,
filing, special projects (commemorative scrapbook). Reports
to hospice management team.
-
Patient/family orientation tours—introducing
prospective and new patients and their families to the
hospice home, staff and volunteers. Reports to hospice
management team.
-
Direct
patient support—“being
present”, listening, reading, helping with personal
grooming, cutting up food, reporting patient/family-related
concerns to staff, distributing snacks from food/beverage
cart as scheduled. Reports to clinical management team.
-
Patient
errands—may
include picking up grooming supplies, washing patient’s
personal laundry, or
other tasks as approved by Volunteer Coordinator and as
requested by or on behalf of patient. Drivers require clean
driver’s abstract and proof of insurance ($2million
liability and endorsement to carry passengers). Reports to
hospice management team.
-
Fund-raising—participate
or spearhead fund-raising events on behalf of hospice.
Reports to fund development committee.
-
Landscaping
(spring
2009)—assists with completing new landscaping and ongoing
maintenance. May include planting, pruning, weeding, etc.
as directed. Reports to landscaping committee.
-
Housekeeping—could
include kitchen laundry, linen and towels, dusting,
vacuuming, sweeping snow away from doors. Reports to
hospice House Manager/Housekeeper.
-
Kitchen
assistance—could
include baking and food preparation (chopping, mixing), snack/meal
preparation, kitchen/dining area/coffee station restocking,
distributing snacks/meals and kitchen clean-up. May require
food safety training. Reports to hospice Chef.
-
Equipment cleaning—items
such as wheelchairs, lifts, etc. need to be cleaned and
disinfected after use. Reports to clinical management team.
