The Alberta Hospice Palliative Care Association (AHPCA) hosted a workshop on palliative care in Athabasca June 12 at the Senior's Drop-in Centre.
Forty-seven people attended the workshop, which discussed how to create rituals towards the end of your life, and the spirituality around palliative care. Palliative care, as defined by the World Health Organization, is an approach which improves quality of life in patients and their families as they face the challenges associated with life-threatening illnesses.
The local event was put on by the local chapter of the Catholic Women's League from Athabasca's St. Gabriel's Church. Their president, Sherry Sikora, said they wanted to raise and enhance awareness about palliative care within the community.
"The AHPCA brought in two guest speakers from Calgary to talk about this type of care," Sikora said. "They were chosen based on their expertise, not based on religion. The AHPCA is a secular organization that teaches people about how spirituality and ritual helps when preparing for the end of your life."
Blair Collins, a former social worker who currently runs his own personal coaching practice, discussed rituals and end-of-life care at the workshop.
"What I do is encourage them to be creative in their rituals, which includes having them do things that they love," Collins said. "For example, if they like to play golf, then I would encourage them to have that on their list."
Collins added the response from the audience was wonderful.
"The hospitality in Athabasca was great," he said. "This workshop is about learning about comforting people dying or who have lost somebody, and creating the rituals to help them."
The master of ceremonies, Westlock and District Palliative Cares Society president Linda Saunders, said she was pleased with the turnout. She added that the event went very well.
"The day after the event, I had two attendees tell me that it was an awesome event, and that they loved it," Saunders said. "They really liked the information which came out of the two guest speakers. One of them even said that she wished she could have heard each guy talk all day. The ladies from the local CWL were awesome hosts, and they did a really nice job of catering to us too."
The other guest speaker, Darrin Parkin, has specialized in spiritual care for 25 years, and is currently the spiritual care co-ordinator at the hospice in Calgary.
The humanist chaplain, as he described himself, did a presentation on Sapiens and Spirituality.
"My presentation discussed the long human history of spiritual evolution," Parkin said. "That includes the meaning of life, and what is so meaningful about it."
Parkin added they also discussed the difference between religion and spirituality.
"It so good to see that spirituality can be done in a hospital setting," he said. "My discussions help both people of faith, as well as people without it. You do not need to be religious to believe in spirituality."
Saunders said the whole reason they hold these workshops is to create more awareness about palliative care within the area.
"In Westlock where I am from, I would guess that only about 25 per cent of the population has even heard about palliative care," she said. "And that's after years of news stories and letters to the editor. In Athabasca, I would estimate that only 10 per cent has heard of palliative care."
Overall, she said the whole topic of dying is an important discussion to talk about.
"Because guess what, we all do it," Saunders said. "We have become such a death denying society, that we do not even use the words die or death. We use the words pass away, or that we lose people. My greatest mission is that we can reclaim death and the rituals around it."
