Last moments see a regional
commitment
Our life is not measured by the breaths we take, but rather
by the moments that take our breath away."
Printed on a slim bookmark, accompanied by the unison flight of doves
and the applause of the hopeful, last Friday morning saw the official
sod turning for Hospice House.
A news item, for sure, with all the deserving dignitaries and politicians
there, voicing enthusiasm and thanks, this next step for this very important
place was celebrated under bright skies. With hope.
A virtual army of supporters is marshalling this consistently generous
community into financial action. Quiet, background people who volunteer
their souls are stepping up to take on the task of 'asking'.
As honorary campaign chairman, Dr. Rick Irvin, points out, this is
a community of people caring for families as a loved one moves through
their last days of life. These are people who have experienced death
and whose hearts reach out to help others whose lives are at the final
chapter.
"We're not into sales or promotion at Hospice," says Rick,
the region's medical trainer for palliative care for health professionals.
"For us, Hospice has just been a quiet word of mouth and running
a fundraising campaign for $5 million has been something we've had to
learn. We always had our quiet way of being with people at the end of
their lives."
Beating their own drum isn't a natural activity for Hospice folks; it's
been terrific to be able to rely on community expertise as this incredible
process moves forward.
This building on Penetanguishene Road will offer 10 beds for palliative
patients, care and support for their families, support groups for people
who are dying, support groups for people who are letting them go. This
is the work of Hospice and with the late June Callwood as their mentor
the Hospice Simcoe folks are taking the lead.
But where does it all begin? In the case of Barrie, the flame for developing
something happened a quarter-century ago. It happened when two youngsters,
Debbie Irvin and Ann Bridgnell, were each diagnosed with T-Cell Lymphoma,
a cancer of the blood cells.
Both young girls lost their battles with this disease, Debbie at age
12 and Ann as a teenager. Their parents spent days in foreign surroundings
at Sick Kids Hospital, camping out in hospital rooms, soaking up precious
time with children who were leaving. It is a pain indescribable.
"We spent much time with Debbie in her room at Sick Kids and we
stayed at McDonald House. We said 'this is not the way we should be
doing this. It's not caring or appropriate,'" says Rick Irvin.
But it's all there was.
It is a pain that in its way has brought this community a facility that
will let lives end in a caring environment.
Kathy Irvin and Pat Bridgnell, mothers of Debbie and Ann, were two of
that first organization of women to discuss the possibility of starting
something that would help people through this hurting and hurtful time.
Jane Fitzgerald and Brigitte Campbell-Nash (both of the Community Care
Access Centre), nurses Betty Stewart, Hazel Baxter, Barb Toivenan, joined
with Linda Gooderham, Joanne Di Biasio and Heather Cox ... together
these women shared their experiences and centred on a goal and started
out to achieve it.
Hospice Simcoe opened in 1988, in modest cubbyhole on Owen St and then
in a larger space on Bradford St. It's been a place of programs ...
support groups, sharing groups, bereavement care, life celebrations,
and the training of the 150 volunteers who care-fully visit and serve
those who are dying and those who are living with that dying.
When Hospice House is completed in nine months, it will have accommodation
for 10 people and will need twice the number of volunteers it has today.
As folks stood in the sunshine alongside the construction site last
Friday, the Dunsmores and the Smileys whose farmland has given way to
development, stood quietly to one side, no doubt in support of what
is happening on their land.
This remarkable building with its equally remarkable services, will
give people in this area a service that raises the bar everywhere. Interested?
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