Amy Tibben, outreach co-ordinator at Beth Donovan Hospice, left, is joined by Hospice Renfrew executive director Marjorie Joly. (Sherry Haaima)
It was an opportunity to explore the challenges and celebrate the successes surrounding hospice care in rural settings.
The third annual edition of Rural Hospice Day, held Tuesday at the myFM Centre with partner Hospice Renfrew, continues the Beth Donovan Hospice’s effort to take the conversations needed to fix gaps in the current state of hospice care out of the major cities and into the communities that require special consideration.
Amy Tibben, outreach co-ordinator at Beth Donovan Hospice, said this year’s theme is Bridging the Gap. Organizers really wanted to focus on the challenges unique to rural areas.
About 125 people from across the Ottawa Valley and beyond were at the networking event, which featured panels, breakout sessions and keynote speaker Dr. Micheal Unger, who spoke about building resilience in volunteers and front-line workers.
Tibben said she is inspired by the continued interest in the topic of end-of-life care and noted it is not just one person that provides end-of-life care, but an entire community and team, many of whom are volunteers.
Tibben said it has been an honour and pleasure to work with Hospice Renfrew which has such a great team whose members really care about the work they do.
It’s also a beautiful facility, one that Beth Donovan looks up to, she said.
(Written by Sherry Haaima)