Providing care to those with life-threatening illnesses is an important task. At Boundary Trails Health Centre (BTHC), the Palliative Care program has this important role. The program consists of volunteers and workers who do their best to ease the journey of navigating final days.
“The Palliative Care program reaches out to families that are dealing with life threatening illnesses. We walk alongside the families providing compassionate care to [them],” says Jeri-Ann Froese, who is the Palliative Care program's volunteer coordinator. “We have friendly visits. We have a comfort cart, which is snacks [and] coffee that we provide for the patients and their families. I also have volunteers that visit with patients in the community at their homes.”
Grief and eating
Grief assistance for families is one aspect of the care that the program provides. Though nothing can take grief away, the Palliative Care program is offering a resource for how to take care of oneself during a very difficult time through the topic of diet.
“[We are] presenting on learning to eat when grief is eating you — it's going to be a grief session,” says Froese.
RD Clinical Dietician Melissa Wall, the dietician at BTHC, will lead the session. It takes place on Tuesday (September 17th) at 1:30 p.m. in the Morden Activity Centre at 306 North Railway Street in Morden.
“[The session will meet] those who attend where they are in their grief journey and allow a safe space and provide helpful tips to help them stay physically and mentally well,” says Froese. “There are often times in our grief that we have loss of appetite or grief eating. [We acknowledge] that this is a natural and normal process.”
Froese adds that it’s also normal to experience both ups and downs and progress and regression as a part of the grief journey. It’s easy for the progress to extend into one’s dietary habits.
“Different individuals handle things differently,” says Froese. “I have seen people that didn't take time to eat. We've offered them coffee and snacks and encouraged them to step out and grab lunch, and they just didn't have the energy to do that. They're just so focused on their loved ones that they just forget to eat. That's really what it comes down to.”
On the other side of the spectrum, Froese says that sometimes, people end up overeating through grief without realizing it.
An empathetic environment
According to Froese, the session on Tuesday will also be a supportive place for someone experiencing grief to spend time with a community that understands what they are going through.
“We want to provide grief session to offer support and to acknowledge [attendees’] loss and to let them know their grief is their own,” she says. “Grief is so unique — there is no right or wrong way to grieve. It often can be . . . a roller coaster emotional ride.”
Anyone who has experienced a significant loss is welcome to attend. She invites anyone who has questions or concerns to call her direct line at the hospital at 204-331-8815.
“I'd love to have a chat and talk about grief and where [you’re] at and see what support we can provide,” she says.
Community support matters
The Palliative Care Program is funded by the BTHC.
“[It] means the world to me. Having them believe in me and put their faith in me and support me — it kind of makes me speechless. [It’s very] humbling because I feel very blessed to be working with such great individuals on the board,” says Froese. “They provide all the tools that I need for my work.”
Community also goes a long way in supporting the Palliative Care program through its donations to the BTHC Foundation. Just last month, the foundation raised $94, 000 through its annual golf tournament.
“I was blessed to be able to be part of that golf tournament that day and to see all the community members from young to old being out there golfing,” says Froese. “Just to see how much they want to support us — it's just amazing. We are so lucky to have a community that gives such support to the facility and to the foundation.”
Learn more about the services that the Palliative Care Program offers on its website.
~With files from Ty Hildebrand~