OLDS — The Olds & District Hospice Society (ODHS) is taking the early part of the new year to prepare for a move to bigger, more accessible quarters in the Olds United Church.
The official relocation date is Feb. 1.
Currently, the society is located in the former credit union building at 50th Avenue and 50th Street.
During an interview with the Albertan, ODHS executive director Mary Smith said the society had been looking at moving earlier, but pushed it back to that date because the Christmas season was too busy.
Officials at the United Church were asked for comment. They plan to provide official comment later.
Smith said society staff and volunteers are looking forward to their new location.
It’ll be more accessible, which is the main thing,” she said. “Right now, our office location is not very accessible. There's no wheelchair access and at the United Church, we will have that.”
Smith said another advantage of the move is the society will have more space to work with. That will include space for a dedicated bereavement room that’s “quiet, comfortable and confidential.”
“That’s where we would meet with individuals who have lost a loved one or had other losses in their life for the one-on-one bereavement support,” Smith said.
She said it will be designed to be a comforting place where people can talk openly about their feelings as they process the loss of a loved one.
"It’s just going to be a real benefit for the hospice society and the clients we’re serving,” she said.
Grief walks to start
In a related development, this spring, the society plans to offer grief walks; another opportunity for people to share the bereavement journey they’re going through.
“It’s going to be really informal, because we see the value in the peer-to-peer; people who have lost people, getting together, walking out in nature,” Smith said, “just really grassroots, just talking about memories that they have of their loved ones. That’s part of bereavement.”
She said the walks could be an option for people who don’t want to commit to a formal eight-week bereavement program
“We have beautiful Olds College wetlands here, we have the dog park, we have lots of different walking paths,” Smith said.
"We can have a schedule where people can gather and they can meet other people who are experiencing loss.
“And it doesn’t have to be ‘this step, this step, this step.’ It can be ‘I lost my mom and this is my favourite memory (of her). Who did you lose?’”
Smith said grief walks are very popular in Calgary, so ODHS staff and volunteers are they’re hoping they will be in Olds as well.
She anticipates the society will begin promoting the walks in February to see how many people are interested in doing them when spring comes.
Death café planned
The ODHS also plans to hold a death café in Olds, likely in the Uptowne area in March.
"A death café is a very kind of trendy, nice, hip way of providing information on death, whether it’s wills and testaments, funeral homes, death due loves, all the information you need to know about death and dying,” Smith said.
“They have different speakers and they have the resources for all the information,” Smith said.
“We’re trying destigmatize death and dying because it’s going to impact us all and if we can get the conversation going earlier, then that’s what we want to do.”
Again, the society got the idea to hold one because they’re very popular in bigger cities like Edmonton and Calgary.
Because it’s a café, Smith said there will be food and drink, plus dessert.
"You know, Death By Chocolate, so we’re going to have a chocolate cake there as well,” she said.
More beds
Looking ahead further, Smith anticipates that the hospice society will likely have at least a third bed around late summer or fall this coming year.
It’s unclear where that bed will be located. It could be located in the Seasons Encore facility in Olds where the society’s other two beds currently are, or it could be elsewhere in the region.
Smith said she can envision a time over the next several years where there could be five hospice beds in the area – at least two in Olds, one in Didsbury one in Sundre (to support the palliative care committee there) and another in Carstairs.
“Nothing has been signed on the dotted line, but we are exploring those conversations,” she said.
“And right now we are developing our volunteer base in Didsbury by doing presentations and having those volunteers sign up with the society so when we do have a hospice bed we’ll have a base at the grassroots to help us with that program.”
Smith said there’s a real need for more hospice beds.
"We’ve been at close to 100 per cent occupancy rate for two years and we’ve had 12 people who were ready to access the hospice supports (but) we could not offer them a bed so we are looking to add another bed,” she said.
She said the expansion to four or five beds will take some time though.
"It will be a slow process, based on data, for us to move forward with opening beds as they’re needed in the community.”
Smith said the deal last month with the Town of Olds to acquire the Nu2U thrift store will be another avenue – along with grants and donations – that could help fund more beds.
She noted funding is key, because the ODHS offers its hospice suites at no charge to people.
