Care beds only part of the services offered by Hospice Niagara

We often read about “Zoomers,” aging Baby Boomer who have remained active, seemingly defying the calendar and living their best life. But while the stories of octogenarian skydivers grab the headlines, for many people who are aging and dealing with a progressive illness, it’s quite a different reality.

As Niagara’s population continues to age, services offered by agencies such as Hospice Niagara are becoming more important to those individuals and their families.

“Sometimes the only thing (people) have in mind is our beds, but that's just basically a tiny portion of what Hospice Niagara offers,” said Joy Friesen, the agency’s community program manager. “The way we look at it is that from the time of diagnosis, when they’re sick, and then when they become palliative.”

The help provided by Hospice Niagara continues even after death with grief and bereavement help for the families of the individual who passed away.

Even if there are no beds available – or if an individual has decided they wish to die at home – services are still available through Hospice Niagara’s day hospice, Friesen said.

“At the same time, their family members receive the caregiver support, and at the same time, the person that's dying also receives a therapeutic psychosocial support from our mental health professionals.”

Those professionals include social workers and psychotherapists who will provide one-on-one counselling. Help is also available for children and youth who are experiencing what Friesen called anticipatory grief.

“That's the newest support that we provide right now,” she said.

Grief and support programs start off as one-on-one but as individuals begin to come to grips with the death of a loved one, individuals can move into group therapy,

“There is power in group support,” Friesen said. “You feel like you're not alone. We have ton of services. We have a grief walk, we have poetry, journaling. There's a lot of things that they can do.”

And as Niagara’s population ages, demand for hospice services is growing. Currently Hospice Niagara’s St. Catharines location is home to 10 beds but new locations opening in Welland next year and Fort Erie in 2026 will triple that capacity.

“The need for more beds has always been there,” Friesen said, adding that the expansion is happening thanks to donors.

Once the Welland location opens, its 20 beds will mean Hospice Niagara will have become the largest hospice in the province, Friesen said, eclipsing the capacity of a 19-bed hospice in Toronto.

“Who would expect that the biggest hospice will be in Niagara?” Friesen asked rhetorically.

Who would expect that the biggest hospice will be in Niagara?

Like Friesen, Hospice Niagara Executive Director Carol Nagy said the hospice’s work is more than beds inside a building. She said the hospice works with Ontario Health at Home to assess what services may best help seniors they are serving.

“They're often people who are isolated, maybe because of their illness, where maybe they don't have a lot of caregiver support,” Nagy said. “We really try to just kind of wrap around what the situation is.”

Once the assessment is completed, the appropriate services can be offered – from things such as pain management with support from an individual’s doctor, to more routine things such as help around the house or with trips to the grocery store.

“We also have volunteers that work with seniors to define their legacy. They do art therapy, those kinds of things. Some seniors, for example, have left videotapes of them reading children's books to their grandchildren.”

And many people are receiving that help at home, she said.

“Every year we're helping about 3,000 people in their own homes and in the hospice, we're able to help around 250, so far more people that receive our services are living at home.”

Of those numbers, about nine per cent live in Pelham and Thorold, she said, with a further seven per cent in NOTL.

That drives home the point that, despite being based in St. Catharines, the hospice is for the entire region.

“We would love to have a hospice in every community,” Nagy said. “But our health-care system just doesn't run like that, as we've seen over the years.”

When the Welland and Fort Erie sites are up and running, Niagara residents, no matter where they are, will be only about 20 minutes away from hospice services, Nagy said.

“In order to use, for example, a hospice which is going to provide such exceptional care and compassion and dignity of life, 20 minutes isn't very far for anyone to have to drive to receive that kind of excellence of care.”