For Hospice Halifax workers, the approach focuses on comfort, dignity and personal trip at the end of life.
But care is beyond the reach of many in Nueva Scotia, where a serious shortage of specialized hospice beds means that a peaceful death is a privilege, not a guarantee.
Claire Prashad, Nursing Manager of the Hospice, underlines the critical need for more specialized attention at the end of life.
Prashad says there should be seven hospice beds for every 100,000 people, but new Scotland is not at that level.
There are only 30 hospice beds throughout the province: 10 in Halifax, 10 in the Annapolis Valley and 10 in Cape Breton.
To meet the accepted standards, New Scotland needs up to 80 beds in total, she says. The regional municipality of Halifax would require up to 30.
Prashad says that this leaves the hospice with the difficult task of juggling with the 10 beds they have, with about 30 to 35 people waiting for attention at a given time.
She says the process is heartbreaking.
“For each person we can take, two are rejected,” she says.
A statement from the Department of Health and Welfare says that he is making a review of Hospice’s care throughout the province.
That includes the hiring of a medical director to supervise the expansion of services at the Fisherman’s Memorial Hospital in Lunenburg with five new hospice beds, according to the statement.
When asked about scarcity this week, Minister of Health, Michelle Thompson, said the province also offers 40 individual palliative care beds as an alternative.
Attention at the end of life can be provided in several ways, even in hospitals, long -term attention or community environments, he said.
“We are aware that there are improvements to be made, and we will continue working on that issue,” said Thompson.
But Prashad’s experience points to a gap among other palliative environments and the specialized hospice model.
She said she collaborates with community nurses and hospital units to evaluate the needs, with the aim of preventing deaths in emergency rooms or ambulances.
Prashad says that Hospice Care offers an environment at home, unlike a hospital palliative care unit located in an institution.
The small team of 14 regular employees is trained in the presence and listening, she says.
They support each other through reflective reports and memory books that record stories of each patient who has died.
“It’s just a kind of change in perspective,” says Prashad. “Instead of looking at the cure, you are looking at comfort, which is still so powerful to be part.”
The hospice began as a basic effort, growing by the support of the community and donations, but still requires government funds to operate, says Prashad.
She wants public members to write in their MLA and call attention to the need for hospice services in their community.
“People who know, know, and we are advocating.”
Hospice del Valle
Valley Hospice in Kentville also has 10 patient beds, but operates in a different financial model from her Halifax counterpart.
It was built by the Valley Hospice Foundation and is property and is operated by Nueva Scotia Health.
Gerry Morey, president of the Foundation, says that the only sustainable model in the Annapolis Valley was to raise money to erect a building and put the initial team, then deliver it to Nueva Scotia Health.
Most of Valley Hospice’s funds come from the province, he says. The Foundation provides complementary funds.
Since he accepted his first patient in September 2020, Morey says there has been a constant increase in demand.
He says his current occupation exceeds 80 percent.
“They cannot speak enough about the compassionate and empathic care they are receiving from the caregivers who are there, including volunteers,” he says about patients’ comments.
Experience that changes life
For those who ensure a bed, the experience changes life.
The Hospice model provides attention that fits the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of each person.
This may include music therapy, pet visits and fulfill the final wishes.
Kaitlin Cantrell, Social Work Coordinator at Hospice Halifax, says that each plan is unique and adapts to the needs of a patient.
A key benefit is the relief that it contributes to families, she says.
“Their families can be their family instead of having to play the caregiver and learn to be a nurse or a personal support worker or a defender or transport,” she says.
“Being able to be here and being a sister, a mother, a brother, a wife, a husband, a friend, is huge.”
