The BC Centre for Palliative Care invites organizations who provide health-care or community support services to persons living with dementia and their family caregivers and/or deliver Advance Care Planning education for the public to complete this short survey.

The survey is part of a project funded by Public Health Canada and led by the BC Centre for Palliative Care in collaboration with Alzheimer’s Society of BC, Family Caregiver of BC, United Way and academic researchers. The project aims to support people living with dementia and their family/friend caregivers to engage in advance care planning activities delivered by local community organizations.  The initiative’s products includes a community training program and a toolkit of resources for the community and public.

Click Here to complete the survey. Please note that the survey will be closed on February 28, 2020.

If you would like more information about the project, please contact Dr. Eman Hassan (ehassan@bc-cpc.ca)

We would greatly appreciate it if you could share this email widely with community organizations or groups in your network.

The BC Centre for Palliative Care partnered with Victoria Hospice and Canuck Place Children’s Hospice to host the first ever ECHO session for Palliative and Psychosocial professionals from across BC!

On February 7, thirty-one participants, including social workers, counsellors and spiritual health practitioners working with people affected by life-limiting illness “met” each other online to discuss their learning needs and expectations for the group.

The participants were from all over the province and work in oncology, long term care, palliative units, home care and renal. An exciting first step in building community and enhancing practice using technology. Participants will have monthly on-line sessions which will start with sharing how they have incorporated new knowledge into practice since the previous session. Sharing is followed by a short presentation about incorporating new evidence into practice with topics such as MAiD, complicated grief, and trauma-informed practice. Third, they will discuss an anonymized patients/family case study related to the topic of the day. The sessions will close with recommendations for management of the case.

Friday’s participants were excited to have the opportunity to connect with others in similar roles, to learn from each other and to stay current in evidence-based practice.

For information about the participation in future ECHO sessions, please contact Stephanie Stuerle sstuerle@bc-cpc.ca. 

Released: Engaging Stakeholders to Improve Policy and Access to Quality Palliative Care in Canada

The BC Centre for Palliative is pleased to be a stakeholder in the national palliative care policy conversations between the public, researchers, and health system leaders. The newly released Palliative Care Matters study is positioned to inform the development, implementation, and evaluation of the 2018 Framework on Palliative Care in Canada (Health Canada, 2018).  The palliative care action plans will continue to work towards improved access to high-quality palliative and end-of-life care for all Canadians.

Click here to view the policy.

BC Centre for Palliative Care is pleased to release The Framework for Palliative Care Education and Training in British Columbia. It is the result of a collaboration of health authorities, health care agencies, universities, BC Ministry of Health, palliative care and hospice organizations throughout B.C.

The framework’s purpose is to provide a foundational structure for palliative education planning on a provincial scale, by describing a vision, guiding principles, pillars and goals. It may serve as a shared resource for all parties with a responsibility for palliative care education in B.C., to help shape decision making and planning within the B.C. context.

Throughout the consultation process to develop this framework, it has been evident that stakeholders are committed to working together to enable quality palliative care in every sector and region of B.C. This framework is an initial step towards province-wide health care providers who are skilled and confident to provide palliative care.

Click here to view the framework.

The BC Centre for Palliative Care was pleased to host Dr. Tomoyuki Dobata and Dr. Satoko Hotta from Japan for two days of shared learning about how BC is adopting and adapting the concept of the global Compassionate Communities movement.

Dr. Eman Hassan, our executive director,  invited several Compassionate Community Champions in BC to share their experiences with our Japanese guests. On December 12th, Camp Kerry, New West Hospice Society, and Compassionate Neighbourhood Health Partners Society met with Dr. Dobata and Dr. Hotta and each explained how they were able to create and mobilize compassionate, supportive networks for individuals and families affected by various illness and end-of-life issues.  On December 13th, Melody Jobse, Community Engagement, accompanied the guests in a visit to Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, the provinces’ hospice palliative care provider for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Later in the day, Dr. Dobata and Dr. Hotta where inspired to meet with L3 group which included young adults whose serious illnesses have not stopped them from living full, independent lives.