Hospice Northwest receives support to help unhoused people get palliative care

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 27, 2025 1:48 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

Accessing palliative attraction tin beryllium stressful for anyone, but for radical experiencing homelessness, adjacent getting to aesculapian appointments tin beryllium an intolerable barrier.

The Palliative Advocacy Care Team (PACT) successful Thunder Bay, Ont., works to code these challenges by connecting unhoused individuals who person life-limiting illnesses with indispensable services, specified arsenic food, transportation, connection methods and superior care.

"When you adhd intelligence wellness and addictions and struggles with, 'I don't person a home, however is location attraction going to beryllium capable to entree me?' I deliberation that there's conscionable truthful galore layers to accessing prime palliative care," said Kimberley Ramsbottom, Hospice Northwest's outreach programme co-ordinator.

"That's wherever we noticed determination was a existent important spread successful services."

The Mount Pleasant Group, which owns respective cemeteries and ceremonial centres successful the Greater Toronto Area, precocious recognized PACT with their inaugural Equity successful Action Award. The $10,000 grant money, combined with backing secured done Health Excellence Canada, means the programme tin proceed for the adjacent fiscal year.

"Everyone deserves compassionate, person-centred end-of-life attraction — particularly those who are often overlooked," Abigail Brown, manager of marketing, communications and outreach with Mount Pleasant Group, said successful a quality release.

"[Hospice Northwest's] exemplary affirms the dignity of each idiosyncratic and sets a almighty illustration for aboriginal outreach-focused attraction initiatives."

'Palliative attraction is enhanced care'

Hospice Northwest runs PACT alongside NorWest Community Health Centres (NWCHC), with guidance from a conjugation of 10 spouse organizations. NWCHC supports the programme done its palliative attraction link, which fundamentally connects clients with different resources successful town.

The $10,000 grant volition spell straight to gathering clients' needs, from helping them find transportation, to getting a cellphone truthful their doc tin scope them astir upcoming appointments.

While PACT presently does not person an outreach idiosyncratic connected staff, it's looking to rehire this position, which has been captious successful gathering connections with clients.

For example, Ramsbottom spoke of a antheral who acted aggressively erstwhile receiving chemotherapy. After PACT's outreach idiosyncratic spoke with him, they learned helium was a residential schoolhouse subsister and was triggered by being strapped down for his treatment.

After the outreach idiosyncratic explained the situation, the antheral was capable to person attraction successful a much trauma-informed way. 

"I consciousness similar we were recognized successful a mode that allows america to enactment radical … to conscionable them wherever they're astatine and not wherever they're having to travel and leap done hoops for us, right?" Ramsbottom said of the Equity successful Action Award.

"We're helping them and wrapping services astir them, truthful they person immoderate integrity and immoderate respect and they're treated with dignity."

In a cleanable world, Ramsbottom said she'd similar to spot Thunder Bay unfastened a residential hospice wherever radical tin beryllium supported until the extremity of their life.

She'd besides similar to spot long-term, sustainable backing — from some Health Excellence Canada and perchance the state — to support the PACT programme going.

"The thought of palliative attraction is enhanced care, truthful that services don't halt due to the fact that you're receiving palliative care, you're really getting an enhanced service," Ramsbottom said.

"I would anticipation that radical get the connection that it's not scary, that we are helping enactment radical successful the holistic mode that they privation to beryllium treated and cared for, and that determination are galore radical retired determination that are not accessing services due to the fact that they don't cognize wherever to go."