TORONTO and OTTAWA, March 5, 2012 /Canada NewsWire/ - In an effort to help meet the growing demand for hospice palliative care resources, We Care Home Health Services (We Care) announced a partnership today with the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA) to enhance end-of-life services and support networks across Canada and build hospice palliative care capacity by introducing knowledge, tools, and resources for Canadians.
"This new partnership with CHPCA is an important step in raising awareness of the rapidly evolving need for expanded hospice palliative care information and services across the country," said John Schram, President and CEO of We Care Home Health Services. "Many family caregivers face significant physical, emotional and financial stress providing end of life care to their loved ones. Through this partnership, We Care wants to expand the support network for Canadians faced with this sometimes overwhelming challenge."
CHPCA is the national voice for Hospice Palliative Care in Canada. Advancing and advocating for quality end-of-life/hospice palliative care in Canada, its work includes public policy, public education and awareness. The partnership between CHPCA and We Care will serve to build hospice palliative care capacity across the country by expanding knowledge, tools and professional resources. The partnership will be particularly relevant to the millions of caregivers who are desperately seeking viable choices and support services for loved ones confronting terminal illnesses. According to recent statistics from a CHPCA report, less than a third of Canadians that die annually have access to or receive hospice palliative and end-of-life services.
"Too many Canadians are living out their final days in acute care facilities. Our partnership with We Care is meant to shift the tide towards a more community-based hospice palliative care system that brings significantly more dignity, comfort and appropriate care to patients and their circle of family and loved ones," said Sharon Baxter, Executive Director of the CHPCA. "Quality palliative care is the right of every Canadian, yet not every Canadian can access these services at a time when they and their families need it most."
The partnership will focus on three key areas including:
...Engage citizens and key hospice palliative care stakeholders - patients, family caregivers, healthcare professionals - to share their hospice palliative care experience/knowledge to help improve the quality of living and dying.
...Promote the need for quality end-of-life care, notably with the fastest growing age group - Canadians 55 to 64 years of age, as well as the second fastest growing age group - seniors 80+.
...Educate Canadian caregivers in regards to alternatives to unwanted interventions by promoting access to tools, resources and services to support patients and help them and their caregivers better understand options that are available and to improve communications with healthcare teams.
Along with ongoing collaborations, as part of the new partnership, We Care will become a major sponsor of three major CHPCA initiatives - National Hospice Palliative Care Week, World Hospice Palliative Care Day and National Caregiver Day.
About We Care
We Care Home Health Services, a leading national provider of in-home care and support services with over 50 locations across Canada, provides professional and compassionate care that allows seniors and others to live independently in the comfort of their own homes. We Care employs 4,000 homecare staff and provides care in over 800 communities across Canada, and has received accreditation through Accreditation Canada within all the regions in which it operates in. For more information, visit www.wecare.ca.
About the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association
The Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA) is the national voice for hospice palliative care in Canada. It is a bilingual, national charitable non-profit association whose mission is the pursuit of excellence in care for persons approaching death so that the burdens of suffering, loneliness and grief are lessened.
