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ymarch71990 st wbm ink mmmmmmmmmm hospice helped by stouffville one of the most important advances in medical care in recent years has nothing to do with technology or amazing breakthroughs in genetics yet its development will be crucial to many of us and our families its called the hospice movement and it provides caring emotional and physical support for the terminally ill and their relatives hospices have been operating for many years in the united kingdom but are a recent phenomenon in canada traditionally set up as facilities where dying patients could go to spend their last weeks in a sympathetic environment under the care of specially trained staff the term also covers the provision of a similar care program in the patients own home carol perley is a registered nurse who has worked with victorian order of nurses von in metro and currently works part time at scarborough centenary hospital it was she who spearheaded the markhamstouffville hospice movement when i was with von i worked in the home care program and after i left i found i missed being at the bedside so i decided to volunteer in the hospice movement she recalls two years ago she visited hospice king and was referred to hospice thornhill which suggested she should start a movement in the markhamstouffville area i called some phone numbers they gave me and a few days later 10 of us met around my fireplace and brainstormed for about three hours recalls carol that led to public meetings at unionville and markham libraries and the response was incredible it was decided that an education program should be set upand she was overwhelmed at the number of dedicated volunteers who came forward we started our first training program a year ago last september she says a number of factors were stressed including creative listening skills and pastoral care as well as the importance of just being there as a friend the idea is to be supportive without being intrusive explains carol we also discussed humor in palliative care as well as for the caregiver in the family and for the volunteer the volunteers now have meetings on the fourth wednesday bfevery month at locust hill united church and host a pot luck supper every three or four months we get together for fellowship and educations sessions notes carol its a sharing time for us markhamstouffville hospice is run by a board of directors which includes dentist dr bill murphy and chief of family practice at the new markhamstouffville hospital dr andrew patterson when a person is terminally ill says carol so often the neighbors the church family and other community groups want to help but they dont know what to say or do the hospice group pools its resources and builds a team organizes a schedule of care which suits the patient and the family since many of the volunteers have been through similar experiences with their own families they know how to intervene at just the right time the attitude of local volunteers has been exceptional she stresses stouffville is a unique arid wonderful place this community has really rallied around the hospice and because support encompases the entire family it doesnt end when the patient dies the care continues and well make regular visits if the family wants us to says carol members of markhamstouffville hospice gathered for their regular pot luck dinner at locust hill united church last week to share time with one another hospice member carol perley spearheaded the local organization and says stouffville has really rallied around the hospice terminally ill patients benefit from compassionate hospice care this approach also helps the volunteers who become close to the family during the caregiving process markhamstouffville hospice currently has 73 volunteers including the 15 people who make up the board of directors and welcome interested newcomers all ittakes says carol is an interest in palliative care and love for other human beings the time commitment is up to the individual its usually about two hours a week but some people have heavy schedules and only give a couple of hours a month says carol they do whatever they can manage markhamstouffville hospice has an office at the markham neighborhood support centre which is open monday wednesday and friday mornings my vision is that well eventually get our own building with an outpatient clinic area for patients to come through the day to give respite to the families she says id love to have a lovely old home where families could stay as well in the meantime the organization badly needs financial help we put memorial cards in the funeral homes and sorority adopted us last year we also go an initial grant from the town of markham and a gift from the latcham foundation but were still desperate for funds she explains at the moment were all volunteers i gave up a full time job at centenary to try and manage this i never believed it would take off the way it has carole notes she and fellow volunteers strongly believe that everyone has the right to die in the place of their choice surrounded by loving comforting friends and family as far as were concerned were not caring for the dying were caring for the living she concludes stouffville doctor busy at new hospital although stouffville is sometimes eclipsed by its larger neighbor to the south markhamstouffville hospital is one major undertaking which genuinely involves both communities localphysician dr andrew patterson of the stouffville medical centre has been named chief of family practice at the new facility a position for which he is well qualified ive been in family practice since graduating from mcgill he notes i worked for a time in montreal and spent three years in rural nova scotia as a family practitioner in a 13bed hospital for the next four years he worked as a civilian general practitioner with the canadian armed forces in germany while he was there one of his major roles was that of obstetrician delivering babies for the wives of servicemen stationed there in 1984 he and his family moved to stouffville i had visited here in 1975 and i thought at the time what a charming small rural community it was i was somewhat surprised when i arrived in 1984 and found it had grown up quite a bit he says happily however it still retained the atmosphere- which had attracted him initially i knew what type of practice i was coming to and that was what i wanted he recalls ive never regretted coming to stouffville i find the people are very pleasant to deal with as patients his involvement with the hospital goes back to 1984 when he began attending monthly meetings of the markhamstouffville medical society formed by area doctors in 1982 when approval for the hospital was granted the function of the organization was to keep local physicians aware of the l developments regarding the hospital and to serve as a forum to advise the board of directors in their planning for the new facility since i arrived ive been attending those meetings explains dr patterson at the point where they were starting to fill positions within the hospital the chief of staff was a family practitioner from markham and i applied to be chief of family practice as a stouffville practitioner his new duties will not affect his local practice he stresses the only way this changes things is that it makes me more efficient because my patients instead of being a halfhour away when theyre in hospital will be 10 minutes away ill be able to visit them more easily he states doctors at the medical centre will continue to provide emergency coverage for their patients he adds dr patterson local presence one of the main advantages that this hospital gives us is that we will have consultant staff and sophisticated lab and xray facilities much closer by than previously his position at the hospital is largely an administrative one he says it just means that i attend meetings i and other doctors i in our practice will still be working the same number of hours here he will be particularly involved in the birth place the unit of the obstetrical department where new mothers will labor give birth and rest until their transfer to the mother- baby unit one of my other main areas of involvement at present is- in the planning of the continuing care ward he says dr gwen sampson who is also on staff at the stouffville medical centre will oversee the ward on a regular basis of the hospitals overall mission dr patterson observes i think its going to be a real credit- to our hospital that theres such a patientcentred philosophy and thecredit for that goes to the board of directors and to the administrative staff from the president of the hospital on down although we have a modern facility with state of the art equipment the attention will be very personal he concludes we have the equipment when its required but we wont have situations where people are attached to a machine and dont see a nurse all day long patients can expect really personal care from the medical and nursing staff