ENEWS -- February 2014
SPECIAL ISSUE
MARKING 10 YEARS:
WITH NEW RESOURCES FOR YOU
We're marking our 10th anniversary today by bringing you new articles, stories, videos and features that cover a wide range of needs and interests. We're also highlighting our Top 10s - items that site users have turned to most frequently over the years. Thank you for helping us give and grow over the past 10 years. Here's to the next 10 years of giving and growing together.
10TH ANNIVERARY PARTNERSHIP
GIVE A MILE AND VIRTUAL HOSPICE WANT PEOPLE TO TAKE FLIGHT
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Give a Mile wants to help people visit family or friends who are critically ill or dying. It connects donors of travel points with people who need flights. Give a Mile is only a year old, but it has already exceeded its goal for collecting points. It needs help to give them away to 10 people who need compassionate flights. If you know of someone who could use some help, contact Virtual Hospice or Give a Mile to learn more. |
10 FOR OUR 10th
NEW ON VIRTUAL HOSPICE
FOR EVERYONE
1. HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU'VE DONE THE RIGHT THING?
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One of hardest of human tasks is making a decision about care for someone else near the end of life. In this new article, Virtual Hospice ethicists Pat Murphy and George Webster offer their experience to help you work through decision making and the results. |
FOR PROFESSIONALS
2. ASKED AND ANSWERED FOR PROFESSIONALS
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Our Ask a Professional team has responded to more than 800 questions from professionals about giving the best possible palliative care. We've gathered key questions and answers into a new feature on Virtual Hospice. Asked and Answered for Professionals gives you quick access to solutions to common challenges. |
FOR EVERYONE
3. NEW VIDEOS
FOR EVERYONE
4. CHILDREN AT THE BEDSIDE OF SOMEONE WHO IS DYING
FOR VOLUNTEER MANAGERS
5. WE'VE GOT VOLUNTEERS, WOULD YOU LIKE ONE?
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In a new Exchange article, Stephen Claxton-Oldfield writes about his research into why many trained hospice palliative care volunteers sit at home while so many people in the community need help. His findings suggest ways to bridge the gap. |
FOR EVERYONE
6. ADVANCE CARE PLANNING ACROSS CANADA
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Each province and territory in Canada has its own approach to advance care planning and decision making for someone near the end of life. This new article points you to the terms, rules and laws in different parts of Canada. |
FOR EVERYONE
7. NEW ASKED AND ANSWERED
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I am wondering how to tell my aunt with dementia that her husband has died? Read our answer. |
FOR EVERYONE
8. SLEEP DISTURBANCE
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Poor sleep is one of the most common symptoms reported by people in advanced stages of illness. A new article by Virtual Hospice clinical nurse specialist Brenda Hearson RN, MN, CHPCN(C), CNS describes the causes and symptoms of disturbed sleep, and what you and your health care team can do about it. You can also read the related article: Sleep and Caregivers. |
FOR EVERYONE
9. "IT WAS THE RICHEST PERIOD OF MY LIFE"
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Palliative care leader Kath Murray shares the story of her mother, Yetta, a life-long artist, who came to learn the artistry in dying. As Yetta approached death and family gathered, she talked to them about the value of the months between her diagnosis and death. |
FOR PROFESSIONALS
10. RUSSELL WILLIAMS, TAKE A BOW!
TOP 10s
WHAT OUR VISITORS ARE CLICKING ON
TOP 10 ARTICLES
TOP 10 ASKED AND ANSWERED
TOP 10 VIDEOS
TOP 10 DISCUSSION FORUM THREADS
TOP 10 TOOLS FOR PRACTICE
YOU'VE HELPED US GROW
THOUGHTS FROM THE VIRTUAL HOSPICE TEAM
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"One of the many things I have learned from the stories and questions our guests have sent us and from my work with the Virtual Hospice team is that any of us can be amazingly honest, resourceful, and tender when we want to care well for someone who is suffering." - Glen Horst, Spiritual Care Advisor |
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"I have learned that despite the internet seeming like a cold and distant place, it can help people desperately looking for information on how to deal with their own illness, or the illness of someone they love. Providing Canadians with the information they need about dying is what makes this work rewarding. I've sat at my computer more than once with tears in my eyes as I imagine the situations that are behind the questions that people ask through Ask a Professional. Some questions are very tough to answer...they invoke emotions, and composing words as a response sometimes feels so limiting. But all you can do is hope that your words have some meaning and help in a small way." - Simone Stenekes, Clinical Nurse Specialist (peds)
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"To echo a line from a movie 'if you build it they will come'. While no one ultimately wants to visit a website on death and dying, for the last ten years CVH has provided expertise, resources and comfort to thousands of Canadians who have benefitted from professional support when they needed it most." - Shane Sinclair, Spiritual Care Advisor |
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“Working in virtual and ‘real-time’ health care as we do at Virtual Hospice, is a privilege. The work in one world strengthens the work in the other. To research and articulate knowledge, and give emotional, social, and spiritual support online, in words, helps the care we offer to patients and families and the clinical support we offer to local teams in our in-person clinical care.” - Brenda Hearson, Clinical Nurse Specialist |
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"Make a difference,' says the sign on my office door. Ten years ago when Virtual Hospice was launched there was a real concern that computers and the Internet were too cold and impersonal to help people in a meaningful way at the most difficult time of life. We’ve found that's not the case: we have been humbled, moved and privileged to connect with Canadians in some of the most profound ways possible. When visitors tell us we’ve made a difference it’s the greatest gift." - Shelly Cory, Executive Director |
CALENDAR
February 21, 2014 - Deadline: Call for papers, Bereavement Ontario 24th Annual Conference (October 15-17), Orillia, Ontario.
February 25-26, 2014 - Long Term Care Applied Research Day, Ontario Long Term Care Association, Toronto, Ontario.
April 10, 2014 - Ontario Home Care Association Annual Symposium, Mississauga, Ontario.
April 27-29, 2014 - 2014 Annual Hospice Palliative Care Ontario Conference, Richmond Hill, Ontario.
April 30- May 2, 2014 - Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology Conference 2014, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
June 8-10, 2014 - Achieving Excellence Together Conference 2014, Ontario Association of Community Care Access Centres, Toronto, Ontario
September 9-12, 2014 - 20th International Congress on Palliative Care, Montreal, Quebec.
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