A plan is underway to help people nearing the end of their lives to live as fully and comfortably as possible and to support those who are grieving the death of loved ones.
Five local residents have been part of a steering committee working on plans to create the New West Hospice Society.
“It’s a really important piece of our social fabric to recognize how important this is,” said Kay Johnson. “I was reading some stuff about compassionate communities the other day. One of the things that really struck me was that the goal should be that everybody in your community is as comfortable as they can be talking about dying and death as they are about birthing and life. If we can have that as our long-range goal and keep striving for that, I think it will be an amazing thing.”
Johnson, who spent much of her nursing career working in hospice and palliative care, believes in community members assisting each other through something that should be a normal life process.
“I had a diagnosis of a life-limiting illness seven years ago. I have been through a lot of testing and stays in hospital and all that kind of stuff. I often say, I don’t know how people who don’t have a background in health care navigate the system. I see the gaps,” she said. “We know about New Westminster. We know there is a lot of people who are marginalized, who don’t have families, and we really need to reach out and do something about that. This is the place to do that.”
Along with helping people through the grieving process, the society will also recruit, train and support volunteers, educate the community about death and grief and promote the formation of a compassionate community.
The idea of creating a hospice society in New Westminster arose when about 200 people, including Johnson and Brock Nicholson, attended an advance-care planning fair at Century House in April 2015.
“It’s really that community taking care of community and neighbours taking care of neighbours, coworkers, classmates, whomever,” said Nicholson, who has worked in hospice and palliative care. “A lot of the actual palliative care, end-of-life care and bereavement support is not done by the professional teams – that is a small and very important part, but about 85 per cent of it is done by friends and family, neighbours.”
Vivian Wong is passionate about building the hospice society, having been a caregiver to various family members in the past.
“It’s to dispel some of the fear that prevents people from wanting to go there and talk about it, engage in it,” she said. “It’s something that all of humanity shares, but most of society shies away from the topic.”
Wendy Johnson, a retired principal and school trustee in Langley, once worked with Kay Johnson on a pilot project that sought to get kids talking about issues around dying, grieving and loss.
“The teaching staff were very impressed by the difference it made to kids,” she said.
Death is often an uncomfortable topic to bring up in conversation, but it’s one that people often want to share.
Kay Johnson recalled an incident in a grief support group involving a woman who had been attending the program for a few weeks.
“One day she walked through the door and burst into tears. She said that she was feeling such relief from being there, knowing that she could be who she was and not have to worry about hiding her feelings or making other people feel uncomfortable,” she recalled. “She was just so happy to be there.”
Johnson said there is lots of need for bereavement support, whether it’s for parents-to-be who have suffered from perinatal loss or children and adults who’ve experienced the death of family or friends.
“The research does show that if families and individuals do get support for their loss, what happens to them over the long run is a lot healthier than if they don’t.”
The New Westminster Hospice Society, which recently received its certificate of incorporation under the Society Act, is encouraging people to attend a community meeting on Saturday, Oct. 15 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Century House that will help provide a community vision for the society.
“We want the community to own this and be part of it, help us with prioritizing,” Johnson said. “We know there is a lot of needs, but we will have to prioritize what we can do.”
