Gratitude for Palliative Response Team inspires generosity
When Deborah learned her husband faced a life-limiting cancer diagnosis, she committed to doing everything she could to enable him to stay at home. “That’s where Tim wanted to be,” she says.
With several years’ experience as a Victoria Hospice volunteer, Deborah knew what would be involved in caring for Tim at home. And that’s what she did for almost two years. When more help was needed to ensure Tim could stay at home until he died, Deborah called the Victoria Hospice Palliative Response Team (PRT) for support.
“Tim’s home was everything to him and dying here was incredibly important to him. If it weren’t for those women of the PRT, it wouldn’t have happened,” she says. “They made it possible in that last very difficult week. No two ways about it.”
PRT support enables families to make own decisions about care
The Palliative Response Team ensured Deborah and Tim were able to choose what was best for them, every step of the way.
“At one point Tim asked the nurse, ‘Should I be going to the hospice unit?’ I’ll never forget her answer. She said, ‘If you go to hospice, your wife can be your wife, not your caregiver, but if you stay home, I promise you, we’ll manage your symptoms just as well.’”
And they did.
While the PRT’s medical support was essential during the last week of Tim’s life, they supported Deborah emotionally, too, she says.
“One of the many things I noticed was how they sat at the dining table with me, getting everything ready. They could have just handed me filled syringes and gone on their way, but they filled the syringes here at the table. It was a way to take time and chat with me, which is exactly what I needed,” she says.
Deborah says she appreciated the team’s support at home and whenever she had questions, day or night. “I could get them on the phone within minutes.”
Support from Victoria Hospice did not stop with Tim’s death. A friend told Deborah how a hospice bereavement counsellor had helped her and suggested Deborah do the same. Once again, hospice eased the journey.
Donor generosity ensures help is available for patients and families, no matter what age
That invaluable support when it was most needed is why Deborah is one of three generous donors who are providing dollar-per-dollar matching funds up to $125,000 for Victoria Hospice’s end of year appeal.
With this matching gift, Deborah hopes to raise support for Victoria Hospice because she feels that dedicated, community-based programs like the PRT and Child and Youth Bereavement Services are essential.
“I lost my dad when I had just turned 17, and in those days, there was no help,” she says. “I’m thrilled that some of the money from this donation will support specialized counselling for young people, because kids and teens really do need support.”
Giving with compassion comes full circle
In addition to her years of volunteer service, this isn’t the first time Deborah has stepped forward in a big way to support Victoria Hospice. In 2015, Deborah, Tim and two neighbours raised $60,000 in one night. “The evening started at our home with appetizers, vintage car rides, and a presentation by one of the hospice doctors; dinner and a silent auction at the next home; and dessert and music at the last,” she says.
That kind of celebratory evening for a good cause was right up Tim’s alley.
“Tim loved being with good friends and good people from all walks of life. He was eccentric in every way, highly intelligent, and a researcher and collector of all sorts of things,” Deborah says. “He performed many random acts of kindness that I’m sure people didn’t know about.”
Now, the gift from Tim’s family in his memory honours the kindness he showed others in his life and the crucial support both Tim and Deborah received from Victoria Hospice services.
Join Deborah and make a difference for families and caregivers, people at the end of life, and children and youth who need help during the hardest days of their lives. Contact 250-519-1744 or click here .