No one should die alone, Labrador palliative volunteer says
A woman who sits with patients as they die says Newfoundland and Labrador government officials should recognize they one day may need palliative care.
"People need to die with grace and dignity and love," said Debbie Gill, a trained volunteer who spends her time with dying patients at the hospital in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and in clinics along the Labrador coast.
"At that stage of their life I think it's so important to not be alone. I definitely don't want to be alone when I die and wouldn't want anybody that I love to be alone."
Gill said it is vital that the provincial government act on a hard-hitting report obtained this week by CBC News, which found that only a small percentage of the people who die in the province are able to avail themselves of proper palliative care, and that many suffer "hideously" in their final hours.
The extensive report, which author Dr. Fiona O'Shea hand-delivered to government officials last year, found a litany of problems, including poor access to appropriate services.
O'Shea told CBC News this week she was repeatedly told that patients often die alone in nursing homes, and that families unable to obtain palliative care often take their dying loved ones to emergency rooms, clogging an already strained system.
"Patients and families [are] getting into a crisis in their homes, not being able to access anybody," she said.
"It may take two days for pain medications to get to the nearest pharmacy where they can actually, physically get the drugs," said O'Shea, who heard from health professionals and others who reported countless stories of anguish.
O'Shea recommended that a program costing $13 million per year could provide appropriate services across the province.
'Bottom line is finances'
"The bottom line is finances," she said.
Gill said the report's recommendations are critically important to many families. She said those living in remote areas are suffering the most.
"I know when we lived on the island, I mean everything is within driving distance," she said. "You can be there fairly cheaply in a short time but here it's so expensive to travel within Labrador and out of Labrador."
Gill said decision-makers should recognize the value of palliative care while they are in a position to make changes.
"The people that make these decisions — one of these days they may even be in need of this service," she said. "Maybe that's what they need to think about, their mother or their father or themselves."
Health Minister Ross Wiseman said earlier this week that government has increased its resources in palliative care over the past three years, and recognizes the call for more spending. He said, though, that the government is always being asked to fund programs in every area of health care.