2024 Annual Campaign
How we live matters.
Each fall, Hospice Northwest launches our Annual Campaign, as a way to raise much needed funds to support those at end of life and those who are grieving, thus ensuring our services remain free of charge for our clients.
This year we are focused on raising funds to support our caregiver program and our educational resources, two areas that are not covered in our annual Ministry funding. Without the support of our community, we can not continue to provide the level of exceptional care and support that our families deserve.
Please consider joining our special community of donors and play a key role in the provision of grief support programs and caregiver services for the children, teens, adults, and families we serve.
How does Hospice Northwest benefit our community?
Grief Support
The pain you experience after a death in the family or loss of a loved one can be overwhelming. The grief you are feeling can also include powerful emotions that can be hard to navigate on your own. Our volunteers provide support and companionship, while respecting your privacy and security.
Palliative Support
Volunteers are matched with a client on a one-to-one basis. Their role includes being a sympathetic companion and helping in whatever way they can during difficult times. The service is managed by the client and will vary according to the client's specific needs.
Caregiver Support
Providing care to a person who is ill can be both very rewarding and very difficult. Whether you are a hospice volunteer or a family members/friend providing support to a loved one, Hospice Northwest is dedicated to providing assistance to you as you care for others.
Outreach Support
Hospice Northwest is dedicated to supporting all community members through their grief and loss journeys. The Community Outreach program was designed with consideration of community members who have loss and grief support needs that often go unmet.
How Does Hospice Northwest Benefit Our Community?
Volunteers and the training are the core of our organization
Volunteers provide psychosocial (emotional and behavioural) and spiritual support. In addition, they provide grief and bereavement support
Client Visits
Volunteers make regular visits to provide support and companionship
Communication with Family Members
Individuals need to choose a primary decision maker who will manage information and coordinate family involvement and support.
End-of-Life Planning
Ensuring that everyone in the family understands the client's wishes. It's important for anyone diagnosed with a life-limiting illness to discuss their feelings with loved ones before a medical crisis occurs.
Our volunteers help make every moment matter
Suzanne, Hospice Northwest Services Palliative Program Coordinator answers the question "What does HOW MATTERS mean to me?"
Each person’s journey is their own and we need to ask what they want. It's really about focusing on what each client’s needs are and what matters most to them. How can we make this difficult journey as good as we possibly can?
Even though you are coming to the end of your life, you're still here, you're still a person, and you still need to live your life the best that you possibly can, and that's what palliative care is. So how do you maintain that?
Well, first of all, do something for yourself. Get yourself a Hospice Northwest volunteer who comes and spends time with you and becomes that companion that you need to talk to about your illness. Or sometimes people don't want to talk about their illness. They want to laugh, they want to know about their volunteer’s life, or they want to share the good experiences in their own life. And those volunteers can take them on outings and help them live the best life that they possibly can.
It's your life, it's your decision. Our volunteers are there to help you face this life limiting illness, even though it's going to be difficult. It's going to be a long road ahead. But knowing that you're not alone, that’s what matters.
Money raised through the Annual Campaign will be used to continue to provide the level of exceptional care and support that our families deserve.
Every moment matters! How we die matters.
And how we LIVE each moment until our death matters!
ELAINE, a Hospice Northwest volunteer since 2022, shared: “I visited my client today. Her breathing has changed, with long times between respirations, but she continued to tap her toes to the music I played. She opened her eyes when I told her I was going now. She surprised me by saying, "Where are you going?" I expect she might die this week but I plan to continue visiting until her death”.
SUE: “My client Julia is living with dementia, which has limited her ability to speak, but allows her friendly, warm personality to emerge often, evidenced by her welcoming smile, hand holding and hugs. After each visit, I chat with Julia’s daughter, identifying behaviours, fun facts and any relevant information. When I first met my client, I was introduced to her life history, full of joy, family fun, and her love and dedication to teaching.
LARRY supported Drew for many months. Drew was a 45 year old blind man with end stage brain cancer. Due to his illness and isolation, Drew’s living conditions were deplorable. Larry advocated for him, connected him other community resources and even learned the art of moving about blindfolded with a walking stick, which allowed Larry to empathize even more with Drew’s situation. Larry was able to support Drew until his death.
How our loved ones spend their final days MATTERS!
I’m Penny Radford and I am a caregiver for my mom Julia, who is living with Alzheimer’s disease. Having Sue as our HNW volunteer is extremely helpful and so needed in the stage of life that mom is going through.
What does HOW MATTERS mean to me? HOW MATTERS means how we do things, how we care for people the way they want to be cared for.
In my family’s case, with my mom having dementia and not being able to express her needs, it's so important to hear what the caregiver has to say because how you look after my mother matters. How you do things and how you advocate for us and how you get us through the system is so important. Do you drag us through it? Do you put obstacles in our path, or do you make it a smooth glide, make it easier and respectful?
How matters and how Sue, our volunteer, interacts with my mom matters. And when I hear Sue saying, “I ‘listen’ to what Julia’s doing, even though she can’t tell me. I look for the look in her eyes to know to do it differently this time, and I do that next time.”
Please consider donating to the Caregiver program during our Annual Campaign because how matters! How we care about people matters.