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News

Nov 25, 2019

New Resources to Support the Legal Processes of Advance Care Planning in Canada.

The “Living Well, Planning Well” toolkits are two complementary resources about the legal processes and requirements of Advance Care Planning in Canada.

Public Toolkit
The “Living Well, Planning Well” public resource is designed to support public understanding and navigation of the legal processes of Advance Care Planning in Canada.
The toolkit was co- developed by Speak Up and BC Centre for Palliative Care. A national Advisory Committee of legal professionals, health care providers, and patient and caregiver representatives supported its development.

Funding for this resource was provided by the Canadian Bar Association’s Law for the Future Fund grant program.
English version
French version

Lawyer’s Toolkit
The “Living Well, Planning Well” legal toolkit is designed to help lawyers and their clients go through the process of ACP.
The toolkit was created by Speak Up and two legal firm partners: TorkinManes (Toronto, ON) and HarperGrey (Vancouver, BC).
Funding for this resource was provided by Health Canada as part of a $1.9 million funded project over three years to help people living in Canada prepare for their future health care needs.

English version
French version

Nov 19, 2019

Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association Releases An Updated National Framework for Advance Care Planning in Canada

The 2019 Pan-Canadian Framework for Advance Care Planning was developed by the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association with input from over 300 stakeholders from across Canada.

The BC Centre for Palliative Care participated in the process of creating and reviewing the Framework through the Centre’s membership in the National ACP Advisory Committee and Capacity Building Task Group.

The 2019 Pan-Canadian Framework sets a new strategy that will help people move from thinking that Advance Care Planning is good idea to actually having the important conversations about the future health-care plans.

The framework positions Advance Care Planning as a normal part of the life journey giving all people in Canada regular opportunities throughout their lives to express their wishes for their future care. The framework strives to reach people at different ages and stages of life and recognizes the critical role that culture plays in how people view health-care decisions.

The structure of the 2019 framework focuses more on broadening partnerships, and promoting further collaboration among different jurisdictions (local, provincial/territorial, national) and systems (health, law, social services, life planning) to support Advance Care Planning.

View and download the framework.

Nov 12, 2019

Healthy Aging Summit

The BC Centre for Palliative Care was a participate at the Healthy Aging Summit on November 7-8, 2019. Dr. Eman Hassan, executive director, and the team were pleased to explore, along with other provincial organizations, healthy aging initiatives in B.C.

Nov 8, 2019

Serious Illness Conversation Training in Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan Cancer Agency (SCA) hosted Train the Trainer for Serious Illness Care: More, Earlier, Better Conversations on November 6, 2019 in Regina Saskatchewan.

Bryan Jorgensen, Director of Supportive Care and Sandra Goodman-Chartier, Project Lead for Early Palliative Integrated Care (EPIC) were instrumental in bringing the vision into reality. “We took our first formal steps as an Agency towards enhancing our communication with patients, families and each other as interdisciplinary team members.”

Master Coaches of the BC Serious Illness Conversation Initiative, Dr. Gillian Fyles and Elizabeth Beddard-Huber, were invited by the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency to mentor the training of four Master Trainers in Saskatchewan: Dr. Michelle Ferguson, Radiation Oncologist, Jennifer Sanderson, RN, Dr. Osama Ahmed, Medical Oncologist and Lina Esmail, RN in the Serious Illness Care Program. A further 18 facilitators and 34 clinicians were trained to teach and use the Serious Illness Conversation Guide in clinical practice. SCA plans to lead future Clinician Workshops in both Saskatoon and Regina.

Congratulations to the Saskatchewan team for their ongoing commitment to providing person-centred care through Serious Illness Conversations.

Nov 5, 2019

Remembering Dr. Jennifer Kryworuchko

The team at BC Centre for Palliative Care is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Jennifer Kryworuchko, Friday October 25, 2019. She will be sorely missed by all of us who had the privilege of getting to know her. Jennifer always demonstrated a deep dedication to furthering the knowledge of a palliative approach to care, especially in the context of shared decision-making between patients and health-care professions.

As a core team member, she travelled to Boston to learn from the developers about the Serious Illness Conversations program. Her guidance was influential in helping to implement and teach the Serious Illness Conversation Program Initiative in British Columbia.

As a Principal Investigator in our peer-facilitated Advance Care Planning research project, Jennifer was integral in the success of the project. Her guidance and leadership supported the development and evaluation of this public education model, which has been recognized nationally as a valuable innovation and spread to over 60 communities across British Columbia.

As an Associate Professor of the School of Nursing at UBC, Jennifer shared her knowledge with nursing students and led the work to modify the Clinician Reference Guide for use by nurses and allied health on how to have serious illness conversations in the process of care.

The legacy of her contributions will continue to shape education and nursing practice. Our thoughts are with her family at this time. – The BC Centre for Palliative Care Team

For more information on the work and legacy of Dr. Jennifer Kryworuchko, please visit the UBC in Memoriam Announcement.

Oct 23, 2019

Upcoming – National Bereavement Day

November 19, 2019, is the annual National Bereavement Day in Canada. On this day, the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA) invites all Canadians to think about those who have passed away from our lives and help advocate for support at local, provincial, and national levels for grieving Canadians.

“Grief impacts all aspects of our lives,” and CHPCA is encouraging Canadians to cope with their grief by supporting each other through living and grieving. This year’s theme is “Coping with grief, together through living and grieving” The 2019 digital campaign aims to encourage individuals and groups to learn about grief and bereavement, this year CHPCA highlights the importance of coping with grief and encourages all Canadians to support those living with grief and bereavement.

Click here to download this year’s resources and share them with your friends, family and loved ones who are experiencing grief.

Oct 1, 2019

Dr. Eman Hassan is Appointed Executive Director of BC Centre for Palliative Care

Marc Pelletier CEO of the Institute for Health System Transformation and Sustainability is very pleased to announce that Dr. Eman Hassan has been appointed executive director of BC Centre for Palliative Care (BCCPC), effective October 1^st. Dr. Hassan has served with the Centre for the past five years, as a public health consultant, director of public health initiatives, and acting executive director.

See full news release here.

Sept 24, 2019

CHPCA Best Poster Presentation

At the 2019 Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Conference Kathleen Yue won best poster presentation for her poster titled “Choosing Educational Resources to Help Build Capacity for Palliative Care”. The poster showcases a tool developed by BC Centre for Palliative Care to help health-care professionals determine which B.C. educational resources best address palliative competencies. Kathleen Yue is the education and partnership lead for BC Centre for Palliative Care.

Sept 19, 2019

Dr. Doris Barwich – Balfour Mount Champion Award Recipient

Dr. Doris Barwich was awarded the Balfour Mount Champion Award presented at the 2019 Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Conference on September 19th. The award recognizes her dedicated leadership, commitment to excellence in knowledge, championing, advocating and advancing hospice palliative care and end-of-life care in Canada. Dr. Barwich was the inaugural executive director and currently serves as the medical director at BC Centre for Palliative Care.