Providing moral support for end-of-life patients as well as educational opportunities for the medical community are among Sundre Palliative Care Association’s primary objectives.
“The most important thing we provide is volunteers,” said Diana Kleinloog, the non-profit organization’s president.
The 15-member strong association is comprised of four executive and three board directors as well as volunteers who strive “to figure out what the need is for Sundre and what we can provide for assistance,” said Kleinloog.
Volunteers can be called upon at any time to sit with a patient or even accompany them on short trips, while offering “respite to the family to give them a break,” she said.
Volunteers are also available to sit with patients who might not have any family and friends around so they are not alone during life’s final moments, she said.
“That is the biggest impact we can have every day on the community.”
Volunteers can be called into the Sundre Hospital and Care Centre, all of the Sundre Seniors Supportive Living lodge’s wings, as well as private homes in town and the surrounding area, from Water Valley and Cremona to Harmattan and Caroline, she said.
“We can send volunteers to wherever the patient is in this area.”
Anyone who is seeking a volunteer’s service can call Anne Brander at 403-507-1255.
Courtesy of donations received from the community, the group is able to deliver a variety of programs and initiatives such as the Let’s Talk About sessions that cover a spectrum of subjects, she said.
Featured topics include specific requests from residents, as well as anything else the association believes will benefit the community, she said.
“We will continue to do this in the future,” she said, encouraging anyone who might be interested in learning more about a subject to submit suggestions by email to [email protected], or alternatively contact Kleinloog by phone at 403-335-8481. Additionally, each session concludes with an opportunity for people to offer ideas.
“Whatever people think is important to them, we think is important as well.”
The organization also aims to make opportunities available for local medical professionals to enhance their end-of-life education. While the association’s mandate does not include providing physical medical care, “we can, however, concentrate on education,” she said.
The association has been dedicated to ensuring there are no obstacles barring any local health-care staff who might be keen to attend an upcoming workshop in Olds this July featuring internationally acclaimed dementia care guru Teepa Snow, said Kleinloog.
“We’ve all heard about dementia care but she brings it to the next level.”
The association decided that supporting Sundre’s health-care teams to take part in the conference if they could not afford to attend was important, she said.
While medical professionals have a repertoire of knowledge, she said the association wants to do everything possible to further enhance the skill sets at their disposal. In all, the organization has made 54 tickets available, worth more than $7,000, to attend Teepa Snow’s workshop, she said.
“This was really important for us to be able to communicate to the community that we have invested their donations into what we think is going to be a long-lasting benefit for everyone.”
As dementia is typically considered a life ending illness, the association felt that expense could be justified as being covered under the organization’s umbrella, she said
Additionally, Kleinloog wanted to point out that donations received in recent years to build a reserve that would help to fund a palliative care suite at the Sundre Seniors Support Living centre remain intended specifically for that purpose.
“There has been encouraging progress to get that room up and running,” she said, adding the association hopes to work with Mountain View Seniors' Housing, which operates the lodge, towards achieving that goal.
“I don’t know that it’s going to happen as fast as we’d like, but our commitment is to furnish that room as soon as we can.”
Since Sundre has roughly double the average senior population as compared with municipalities throughout the rest of the province, the association takes its mission seriously and really appreciates the close relationships in working with all of the physician clinics in the community, she said.
Additionally, anyone who might be interested in getting involved with the association is welcome to join the group, she said.
