Appearing in the October issue of Public Health Palliative Care International’s (PHPCI) monthly publication to its stakeholders, BCCPC’s recently developed Compassionate Communities Toolkit went global, garnering international attention for the Centre’s efforts to inspire and mobilize communities to create supportive and caring networks for people affected by serious illnesses.
The toolkit was created by BC Centre for Palliative Care in partnership with Kalein Centre, and with the guidance and content contribution from an advisory committee of compassionate communities’ champion organizations, a public health physician, and a palliative care physician.
PHPCI’s goal is to promote the importance of public health approaches to palliative care at a global level, by facilitating communication about best practices for embedding the public health approach to palliative care.
Sharing information about BCCPC’s Compassionate Communities toolkit with its worldwide membership, PHPCI had this to say:
BC Centre for Palliative Care (BCCPC), a provincial not-for-profit organization, engaged other leading organizations in the development of a plan that aims to activate and support the growth of compassionate communities across BC. The plan comprised of five key strategies:
1) Educate the public and community groups about the community’s role in supporting people affected by serious illnesses, dying and grief experiences; 2) Inspire community groups to participate in the movement;
3) Empower interested community groups with the knowledge, skills, and resources they need to become compassionate community champions;
4) Recognize and spread successful experiences;
5) Support networking of compassionate community champions to facilitate exchange of experiences and resources.
To support the implementation of this plan, BCCPC provided seed funding, training, coaching and access to implementation and evaluation tools for community organizations interested in starting compassionate community initiatives.
Evaluation of 68 compassionate community initiatives implemented in rural, remote and urban communities across BC provides evidence of positive impact at all levels:
1) Volunteers: improved knowledge, skills and confidence 2) Community organizations: enhanced competency, established new partnerships, attracted new sources of funding
3) Public: better supported, socially engaged, and better informed of the resources available in their community.
The BC Compassionate Communities Toolkit builds on the successes and experiences of compassionate communities in BC.
BCCPC’s Compassionate Communities Toolkit is available here.
