You’re invited to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the North Okanagan Hospice Society (NOHS)! Date: Tuesday, October 15th, 2024 Time:...
Ask us a question about our Healthcare Practitioner Resources.
Healthcare Professional Resources
- Research to Practice Webinar
- Student Practicum Training
- Strengthening a Palliative Approach to Long-Term Care (SPA LTC)
Webinars
NOHS is committed to developing staff and exporting education programs to caregivers, health care professionals and the public to facilitate better outcomes for clients and their families. This is done by offering two series of webinars each year. One is the Research to Practice Webinar Series offered proudly in partnership with the Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention at UBC Okanagan. This is a free, educational seminars to the public on a variety of topics relating to hospice palliative care. The second is specifically tailored to Health Care Professionals working in End of Life Care. Here we share our in house hospice palliative care expertise with professionals who are interesting in earning Continuing Education Points. There is a nominal fee for these webinars.
Research to Practice Seminar Series
In 2012, NOHS partnered with the Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention at UBC Okanagan to deliver free, educational seminars to the public on a variety of topics relating to hospice palliative care. These sessions are facilitated by Canadian researchers and stakeholders and are offered 4 times per year. Since we provide an opportunity for people to join online or by teleconference, as well as in person at UBC Okanagan, the audience for these seminars is typically diverse and includes Hospice staff, university students and faculty, Health Authority staff, health care professionals, caregivers, and interested community members – sometimes from across the country.
2024 Past Webinars and Recordings
- Situational Analysis for Strengthening a Palliative Approach to Care in Long-Term Care in 6 Canadian Provinces by Marie-Lee Yous, RN, MSc, PhD School of Nursing, McMaster University and Clara Dyck, RN, MSN, CHPCA(C) Education and Resource Leader, North Okanagan Hospice Society
- Event History – 2024 (UBC.ca)
2023 Past Webinars and Recordings
- Building palliative care capacity by engaging generalist providers and patients and families by Dr. Hsien Seow, Professor, McMaster University; Canada Research Chair in Palliative Care and Health System Innovation
- Research to Practice Seminar Series by Holly Prince, MSW, (PhD. Cand.)
- Adapting the Serious Illness Conversation Guide for patients from diverse communities by Elizabeth Beddard-Huber, RN, MSN, CHPCN(C) BC Centre for Palliative Care; Nicole Wikjord, RN, MN, CHPCN(C) Clinical Nurse Specialist, First Nations Health Authority
- Understanding Grief Through Existential Analysis by Sebastian Wingfield, MA, CCC
- Addressing the need for culturally safer care at the End of Life for Indigenous Peoples by Holly Prince, MSW, (PhD. Cand.)
2022 Past Webinars and Recordings
- Developing the role of the volunteer to support caregivers of children with medical complexity – A Delphi Study by Robyn Thomas, HBSc, Master of Arts Student Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity theme, Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies, University of British Columbia Okanagan
- Improving end of life care: Timely identification of patients who would benefit from a palliative approach by Dr. James Downar, MDCM, MHSc, FRCPC Head Professor, Division of Palliative Care, Department of Medicine and Clinical Research Chair in Palliative and End of Life Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa
- Improving capacity within Long-Term Care to implement a palliative approach to care: Pearls for Practice by Sharon Kaasalainen, RN, PhD, Professor; and Gladys Sharpe, Chair in Nursing, McMaster University
2021 Past Webinars and Recordings
- The Caregiver Experience of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) by Dr. Sarah Hales, MD, PhD, FRCPC is a psychiatrist and researcher in the Division of Psychosocial Oncology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, Canada
- Relational practice and pandemic restrictions: A qualitative study of palliative care nursing by David Kenneth Wright, PhD, RN, CHPCN(C) Associate Professor, School of Nursing, University of Ottawa; Academic Lead, Palliative Care and Nursing Ethics Hub, Centre for Research on Health and Nursing; Director at Large—Research, Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Nurses Group and Kim McMillan, PhD, RN, CHPCN(C) Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, University of Ottawa; Academic Mentor, Palliative Care and Nursing Ethics Hub, Centre for Research on Health and Nursing
- Dis(Connecting) through COVID: Experiences of older persons and their volunteer navigators by Dr. Barb Pesut, PhD, RN, Research Chair in Palliative and End-of-Life Care for Frail and Rural Adult Populations; Professor, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health and Social Development, UBC Okanagan and Paxton Bruce, UBCO Master’s student in Interdisciplinary studies
- Colour outside the lines: Compassion in the 21st Century by Dr. Shane Sinclair, Associate Professor Cancer Care Research Professor, Director, Compassion Research Lab, Faculty of Nursing, University of Calgary
- A Life Well Lived is a Life Well Planned by Laurel Gillespie, MBA Director, Advance Care Planning in Canada Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA) and Ryley Garagan, BPR (Hon), Communications Officer, CHPCA
- Perspectives from Families, Decision Makers and Researchers on What Should be Captured to Assess the Quality of Community-Based Palliative Care by Dawn Guthrie, PhD Professor, Department of Health Sciences, Wilfred Laurier University
Student Practicum Training
NOHS is committed to training the next generation of people to provide expert hospice palliative care. We provide opportunities for Medical, Nursing, Social Work, Registered Health Care Aides and other academic students to pursue palliative care practicum training with us.
To find out more information about a palliative practicum experience, please email [email protected].
Strengthening a Palliative Approach to Long-Term Care (SPA LTC)
Did you know NOHS shares our experience and expertise with our community? This is just one component of our research with McMaster University and Strengthening A Palliative Approach to Long Term Care in BC!
A palliative approach in long-term care (LTC) empowers families and staff to provide personalized and high-quality care for LTC residents living with chronic and life-limiting illnesses. This approach provides individuals with a seamless transition from chronic disease management to appropriate end-of-life planning and care. We believe palliative approach is beneficial at any stage in a chronic illness to maximize comfort and respect a person’s wishes. Working alongside health professionals and family members, individuals with a life-limiting or life-ending illness are involved throughout the illness trajectory. Care is rooted in open and honest conversations so that the personal, spiritual and emotional concerns of residents are heard and addressed.
At NOHS, we believe this model works. We have partnered with SPA-LTC McMaster University to help roll out this program to residents of BC’s LTC homes.
Our Education and Resource Leader, Clara Dyck, is the McMaster University Research Partner in British Columbia. She has completed the Situational Analysis (via survey) of the state of Palliative care in LTC homes in BC. From this Survey, stakeholders were identified for follow up Interviews. These stakeholders shared 5 key recommendations.
- Build confidence and competence at the organization, team and individual level. Through resources, mentoring and e-learning
- Embed tools to Enable Support for Staff delivering a palliative approach to care
- Adopt tools and approach to Meeting Residents & Families needs
- Dedicate time for staff to be part of a Palliative Champion Team
- Embed a strength-based approach to create Shift in Practice
Using these 5 recommendations, Clara is working with individual LTC homes to strengthen the palliative approach to care their homes. What the SPA-LTC program looks like in in your Long Term care home is as unique as your Long Term Care home is! Implementation of this program could look like the following: a focus on resident/family teaching, Goals of care conversations on admission, resident and family meetings, comfort care rounds, developing a Palliative Champion team or even extra palliative education for staff. The goal is not to ADD extra work for LTC homes but to SHIFT practice, use strengths the Long Term Care home already has and embed palliative tools or approaches.
To learn more about SPA-LTC program or to have this program in your LTC home or place of work please contact Clara at [email protected], 250-503-1800 ext. 104
SPA-LTC Toolkit
NOHS presenting the SPA-LTC program to Optima Living
Current Partners:
- BC-Centre for Palliative Care
- Dania Home (Surrey)
- Optima Living:
- The Hamlets in Vernon
- The Hamlets at Duncan
- The Hamlets at Penticton
- The Hamlets at Westsyde
- The Evergreen Hamlets at Fleetwood (Surrey)
Past Webinars
- Situational Analysis for Strengthening a Palliative Approach to Care in Long-Term Care in 6 Canadian Provinces by Marie-Lee Yous, RN, MSc, PhD School of Nursing, McMaster University and Clara Dyck, RN, MSN, CHPCA(C) Education and Resource Leader, North Okanagan Hospice Society