{"id":27126,"date":"2020-07-30T21:38:49","date_gmt":"2020-07-31T01:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=27126"},"modified":"2020-07-30T21:38:56","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T01:38:56","slug":"covid-19-has-changed-the-conversation-but-not-mandate-for-hospice-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/covid-19-has-changed-the-conversation-but-not-mandate-for-hospice-care\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 has changed the conversation, but not mandate for hospice care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world, but, in many respects, it has been business as usual for some frontline workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The virus has changed day-to-day operations at Newmarket\u2019s Margaret Bahen Hospice, but they have carried on at 92 per cent capacity without missing a beat \u2013 thanks to some innovative thinking and creative solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have been able to operate almost business-as-usual in terms of our numbers,\u201d says Director of Care Tamara Hennigar, noting that by the start of July they had seen 57 admissions since March. \u201cThroughout the entire pandemic, we have operated at full capacity because our core population hasn\u2019t changed and we\u2019re still able to service that whole population \u2013 just with some modifications to our practices [like] changing our visiting policy and moving to patio visits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Margaret Bahen Hospice, the only residential hospice serving northern York Region and much of Southlake Regional Health Centre\u2019s catchment area, prides itself on being a place of \u201cyes\u201d \u2013 identifying the needs and wishes of clients at the ends of their lives and doing what they can to make it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under present circumstances, Ms. Hennigar says they haven\u2019t been able to say \u201cyes\u201d as often as they would like, but they\u2019re addressing this challenge with a simple question: \u201cHow can <\/em>we say yes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As The Auroran reported last week, some of these measures have been developing new protocols for bringing family pets into the hospice to be with their humans when families have had to stay socially distanced, even when saying goodbye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to figure out how to get it to work,\u201d she says. \u201cThe biggest misconception is Hospice is sad, but we have had so many happy moments, too. We have had some proposals, we\u2019ve had somebody coming into play the piano, coming in and singing \u2013 not right now with COVID, because we haven\u2019t been able to do these things, [but] it is still about living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEveryone who comes in, we help them live and we help them live every moment until they are not living anymore. I think it is important for people to understand that, yes, you are losing someone and that is very impactful and very sad, but we can help you and your family live together and live the best that we can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it has been business-as-usual as far as the essentials of end-of-life care, services, where possible, have flourished in a virtual realm. Art therapy programs, for instance, have seen significant success with one-on-one Zoom sessions. These programs have also eliminated travel time for practitioners and beneficiaries alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additional programs finding renewed success on new platforms include yoga, mindfulness and group bereavement services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere have been a lot of clients who are bereaved, and we have a lot of clients who are going through even more grief and bereavement now because they haven\u2019t been able to properly grieve and not experience that closure by having funerals and the other social norms we have associated with death and dying,\u201d says Ms. Hennigar. \u201cIt is still the same in that regard, but it has changed the conversation. The conversation has changed but the needs are still there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe core population that we serve hasn\u2019t changed. People are still dying of what they were before COVID, so we\u2019re still servicing that whole population.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, it takes resources to continue serving the whole population, and that\u2019s why Margaret Bahen Hospice and partner Doane House Hospice have launched The Great 2020 Hospice Activity Challenge, a re-think of their annual Hike for Hospice which challenges the community to turn their favourite summertime activities into a way to raise money for local care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it is swimming, walking, biking, or even skateboarding, registering for The Great 2020 Hospice Activity Challenge will raise much needed funds towards their $80,000 fundraising goal to make sure service remains seamless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe big message we want to share is that throughout the whole pandemic Hospice has been here. We have still been that support for clients in the communities, still in operation and still serving,\u201d says Ms. Hennigar. \u201cBy joining the Activity Challenge, it is a way to really help support us and really show they are there with us. By doing stuff they love, it will be a great way to give back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information on The Great 2020 Hospice Activity Challenge, including registration and donation options, visit myhospice.ca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world, but, in many respects, it has been business as usual for some frontline workers. The virus has changed day-to-day operations at Newmarket\u2019s Margaret Bahen Hospice, but they have carried on at 92 per cent capacity without missing a beat \u2013 thanks to some innovative thinking and creative solutions. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/2020-07-30-4.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-73w","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 13:47:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}