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w 20 economist sunsuntribune saturddymay 14 2005 ysroi markhamstouffville ottr eatniitufttty hospice support on the rise in york region since 1989 evergreen hospice has been helping people in the communities of markham and whitchurchstouffville cope during the most difficult time in their lives when they face a lifethreatening illness or death evergreen hospices professional staff and trained volunteers are dedicated to providing compassionate palliative care helping people maintain dignity and personal choice while continuing to have a positive quality of life evergreens bereavement support is designed to meet the specific emotional heeds of children teens and adults as they adjust to their loss and learn new living skills the canadian hospice palliative care association chpca reports that 95 of canadians say they want quality hospice palliative support at the end of their life yet currently less than 15 of canadians have access to this type of care points out esther mitchell evergreen hospice executive director evergreen hospice is committed to ensuring that the people who live in markhamstouffville have access to the quality hospice support they deserve v being a nonprofit organization all of our hospice services are provided at no charge evergreen hospice offers palliative care support through kathleen mullin day program offers positive lifeaffirming activities and friendship on a weekly basis inhome support trained volunteers and professional staff provide one-on- one assistance to families in their home personalized counselling trained professionals offer confidential counselling to help people cope through difficult times caregiver support group offered biweekly for those who are the primary caregiver for a loved one or friend caregivers share their feelings receive practical information and develop coping skills the group is facilitated by hospice staff and trained volunteers bereavement programs include shifting sands dropin support program for teens bridges of hope meets monthly providing resources for individuals who have experienced the death of a loved one circle of hope a selfhelp group that shares common experiences concerns arid mutual support v bereavement correspondence course sharing information on topics including the phases feelings and complexities of grief with practical suggestions for coping with the variety of emotions that people may feel support for children stormy nights sunny days stormy nights sunny days as evergreen hospices tenweek bereavement support program for children ages 513 years during a recent session children were asked to sew their own personalized scarves of many colours multicoloured squares were knitted by a hospice staff member the children selected colours that they associated with their loved one who died the colours could v reflect feelings of grief or could represent characteristics of that special person the scarves also became a positive reminder of the time the children spent together as the weeks went by the scarves grew longer and at the end of the flprogram the children shared the meaning of the scarves with their parent special events new worldta social group for widows and widowers which enables people to ireenter social activities asa single person j n6fs6tlolly christmas annual seminar featuring dr bill webster who trilofferssiipport suggestions for coping with holidays f ft celebration of life annual memorial service that provides ah opportunity for famifiesarid friends to join eyergrecn hospice staff arid volunteers and w- celebrate theiives of those who have been cared for adults who have an intellectual disability provides an opportunity for clients to meet in a structured positive setting to explore their feelings of loss and develop ways to cope withthe changes in their lives the bridging project offered in partnership with york region social services access centre to expand bereavement support to members of the chinese community evergreens professional counselling staff coupled with volunteer translation assistance provides onsite support once a month your support helps evergreen support those in need while all of evergreen hospices programs are offered at no charge to the community these offerings are not without cost only 12 of the hospice funding comes from governriient assistance and evergreen hospice does not receive financial support from local healthcare organizations such as the markhamstouffville hospital or other medical associations explained ann burkholder evergreen hospice board member corporate financial support personal donations memorials arid bequests as wellas special event fundraising plays a crucial role in making it possible for evergreen to meet the increasing needsof people in our community v over rtheppasjtthree years evergreen hospices clients have increased annuailybytl5 arid we know that the demandfor hospice carewill grow dramatically as york regions population ages notes jim cuttle evergreen hospice board president that creates a real financial challenge for us we must find the necessary funds to cover the costs of training iriore volunteers and hiring additional counselling professionals it just isnt acceptable to have people waiting for palliative care rr- thanks for all the love and wonderful care you gave to my dad we have had tiriies of joy and sadness and you have supported my mom and the rest of us through it all volunteers make it happen we are extremely proud of our volunteers notes virginia bidwell evergreen hospice volunteer coordinator they are an amazing team of caring and committed people it is rewarding to work with hospice fariiilies and we ensure that our volunteers are well prepared every new volunteer participates in a 10- week 30 hours training program and we offer additional information sessions throughout the year last year evergreen hospice volunteers contributed more than 19000 volunteer hours helping people in the markhamstouffville community celebrating life the evergreen way we have a fantastic group of community members who are actively involved with our fundraising initiatives said karen warner evergreen hospice fund development coordinator combine those talented individuals with our local business partnerships and our charity events become more successful year after year we truly believe in celebrating life and strive to offer something for everyone i think one of the key reasons that our fundraising events have become so popular is because of the fun we have at them modeling their scarves of many colours are children who participated in the stormy nights sunny days program r community partnerships dark shadowsbright lights offered in partnership with york south v association for community living this 8week grief support group for k traditipji ef caring from one generation to another dixongarland funeral home 9052942030 dixon funeral how lid- 166 main streefnorth markham on l3p 1y3 i a n r m i i