Families of kids who are severely ill or have died will benefit from more counselling and support-group gatherings.
Canuck Place Children‘s Hospice plans to expand its services to Kelowna and the Okanagan this fall. The goal is to help parents and siblings of children who are sick or dead cope with the stress and link them with others in the same situation.
“Our plan is to send our counsellors here to Kelowna at certain times in different months to organize groups for families to attend and receive that support,” said Filomena Nalewajek, CEO of Canuck Place in Vancouver.
“A large focus is to build expertise among people in Kelowna … teach courses to medical professionals so they can expand their knowledge and skills in this area.”
Canuck Place, partly funded by the Vancouver Canucks, accommodates up to nine sick children and four families at once. Staff care for the kids to give parents a break. They treat children with severe pain and symptoms of a disease. And they attend to children at the end of life.
No facility aside from Kelowna General Hospital treats dying kids in the Central Okanagan. Canuck Place will provide experts to help families manage their dying children, but has no plan to build a facility for now.
Instead, four officials are meeting with different partners today in Kelowna to plan several initiatives, including a weekend each month for families of Okanagan children who have died.
“We‘re excited,” said Bob Switzer, executive director of the Central Okanagan Hospice Association, which provides palliative care for adults at the 24-bed Hospice House on Ethel Street. “The service they (Canuck Place) provide comes with a tremendous amount of expertise in working with children. Children can have a real challenge later in life if they lose a sibling early in life. We‘re privileged to work with Canuck Place.”
Up to seven Valley families can join the bereavement-support group for a weekend at the association‘s program centre on St. Paul Street staring in early September, Switzer said.
Linda Woods runs Compassionate Friends, a Kelowna support group for grieving parents. She welcomes the bereavement expertise and connections Canuck Place will add.
“Grief work is a hard job,” said Woods, who has lost two of her children. “When you don‘t do it, it comes out in other ways. People get sick.
“You need your family and friends but you also need people who know what you‘re going through.”
Canuck Place also plans recreational camps for kids with life-threatening illnesses. Medical and clinical staff will offer courses and support to Okanagan doctors and nurses on managing pain and symptoms of illness in children – a specialized area, said Nalewajek.
“We‘ll meet with the heads of KGH and talk to them about ways to better support them in their care of children here in Kelowna so children and families don‘t have to travel to the Lower Mainland.”
To learn more about the bereavement-support group, call 250-763-5511. To contact Canuck Place, call 1-877-882-2288. Top of Page
