Started in 1988, Hospice Toronto is Toronto’s not for profit, first volunteer-based, home hospice, palliative care program. Over the years, Hospice Toronto has served 7,220 individuals (directly impacting the lives of over 36,000 family members and friends). By providing and advancing compassionate care and leadership in the volunteer-based, home hospice community, Hospice Toronto has become a recognized leader in providing high-quality, hospice care and support for people through all phases of their life-threatening illness, and their loved ones, at no charge. Hospice Toronto helps those facing life threatening illness, spend their last days at home and die in peace and dignity, while comforted by their family, friends and a lifetime of collected treasures.
For more information, please visit hospicetoronto.ca
Creating Caring Communities
Hospice Toronto advances its model of volunteer-based, home hospice palliative care and support in some of St. James Town’s diverse communities through this innovative approach to end-of-life and life-limiting care to help people living with a life-threatening illness, and their families realize their choice to remain at home and receive care.
Creating Caring Communities is transformational community development program where we collaborate in culturally sensitive ways with local social agencies and their networks to identify, engage and assist those who are ill, and their caregivers. With the goal of promoting sustained resiliency, families are able to care for their loved ones and community members in their homes for as long as possible.
While introducing our Creating Caring Communities model in some of Toronto’s diverse communities, we have learned that while education is not the primary focus of our work, it is important to fully consider its impact when engaging diverse communities, with a community development approach. Our commitment to a mutual process of information sharing to learn from one-another has become the hallmark of our program and a key element to its success. Community outreach within the St. James Town neighbourhood is driven by its members from the knowledge and trust they have developed through our focus group information workshops and subsequent training sessions. Through word-of-mouth, community members further engage their families, friends and neighbours – it is one of our most effective strategies to engage the many diverse communities in building and sustaining the program.