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Dying with dignity can be a challenge for any patient, but especially so for the man or woman who has been living on the street.
To give homeless people the support that can allow a dignified passing, the Ottawa Mission has announced the expansion of its Diane Morrison Hospice at 53 Daly Ave., next to the Mission on Waller Street, to 21 beds from 14.
The extra seven beds inside the newly renovated space mean those with life-threatening illnesses will not have to suffer alone, says the Mission’s manager of health services, Marg Smeaton.
“We’re seeing our clients that are coming in that haven’t had any medical intervention, who don’t have anyone that is looking after them, who have really complicated medical needs,” said Smeaton, who says clients range from their 20s to their 80s. “And so when we bring them in, it’s often for longer period of time that they are with us — palliative but chronic palliative.”
The centre opened in 2001 and provides 24-hour care to those facing their final days. Through a partnership with Ottawa Inner City Health, nurses, client-care workers and other health professionals offer patients physical, emotional and spiritual support at every stage.
The expansion is funded through the Ottawa Mission Foundation and Telus.
Smeaton says the need for growth is due in part because of a lack of affordable housing in the city. With hospitals taxed, the 14-bed centre was always at full capacity.
“There are people that had high medical needs that had nowhere else to go,” she says. “I guess they could sit in a hospital ward but that doesn’t provide somebody with dignity of life that they deserve at the end of their life.”
Compassion and understanding are necessary when treating patients who have lived most of their lives on the street, she says. As well, because, patients have typically encountered other Mission services such as its shelter, its learning centre and its primary care service, the move to the hospice — as opposed to another facility — is less intimidating.
“They are already part of the community here so it’s really easy to say, ‘If you need more care we can provide it,’ ” says Smeaton.
pmccooey@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
To give homeless people the support that can allow a dignified passing, the Ottawa Mission has announced the expansion of its Diane Morrison Hospice at 53 Daly Ave., next to the Mission on Waller Street, to 21 beds from 14.
The extra seven beds inside the newly renovated space mean those with life-threatening illnesses will not have to suffer alone, says the Mission’s manager of health services, Marg Smeaton.
“We’re seeing our clients that are coming in that haven’t had any medical intervention, who don’t have anyone that is looking after them, who have really complicated medical needs,” said Smeaton, who says clients range from their 20s to their 80s. “And so when we bring them in, it’s often for longer period of time that they are with us — palliative but chronic palliative.”
The centre opened in 2001 and provides 24-hour care to those facing their final days. Through a partnership with Ottawa Inner City Health, nurses, client-care workers and other health professionals offer patients physical, emotional and spiritual support at every stage.
The expansion is funded through the Ottawa Mission Foundation and Telus.
Smeaton says the need for growth is due in part because of a lack of affordable housing in the city. With hospitals taxed, the 14-bed centre was always at full capacity.
“There are people that had high medical needs that had nowhere else to go,” she says. “I guess they could sit in a hospital ward but that doesn’t provide somebody with dignity of life that they deserve at the end of their life.”
Compassion and understanding are necessary when treating patients who have lived most of their lives on the street, she says. As well, because, patients have typically encountered other Mission services such as its shelter, its learning centre and its primary care service, the move to the hospice — as opposed to another facility — is less intimidating.
“They are already part of the community here so it’s really easy to say, ‘If you need more care we can provide it,’ ” says Smeaton.
pmccooey@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
