Parry Sound hospice aims to offer culture-based care to nearby First Nations

A hospice agency in central Ontario is reaching out to nearby First Nations to offer more culturally relevant services to patients and families seeking end-of-life care.

Hospice West Parry Sound has spent most of 2017 building bridges between its volunteers, health care providers, and the Anishinaabe communities around the town of Parry Sound. It's a visiting hospice that supports people whose wish is to die at home.

"We have four First Nations within our catchment, so that amounts to around 1,000 individuals," said executive director Melanie Honsinger.

"So some of the things that we noticed was that the supports that Indigenous, First Nations people were asking of us were very different from the non-Indigenous (community)."

0:01Parry Sound hospice Indigenous outreach

Parry Sound hospice Indigenous outreach

To identify those needs, hospice staff held workshops at the Parry Sound Friendship Centre in the spring to invite people and leaders from neighbouring communities like Wasauksing First Nation and Shawanaga First Nation to share what they're looking for in hospice care.

"Generally speaking, Indigenous families rally around. They weren't looking for the caregiver breaks in the way that non-Indigenous were," said Honsinger. 

Respecting traditional beliefs

"So our role, we've noticed, was much more in an advocacy role: to meet with physicians, nurses, and really advocate for incorporating and respecting traditional beliefs and values, traditional medicines, as well as just being the support to the family toward the end of life."

So far this year, Hospice West Parry Sound has served 10 Indigenous families both on- and off-reserve, which amounts to about five per cent of its clientele. But staff expect that number to grow.

"I think it's a big step given the amount of Indigenous communities we have, and the population we have, and the aging population, that this is a very important role," said Eva-Jane Poytress, hospice bookkeeper and administrative assistant from nearby Wasauksing.

"[The] hospice is learning our traditions and our culture, like how it is to make a spirit journey and have a sacred fire and the teachings of our medicines."

'Our web is getting bigger'

That meant a lot to Anita Chechock when she was seeing a friend through her final stages with cancer. Hospice volunteers helped co-ordinate support with health care providers according to Anishinaabe customs.

"It's so good when you have your ways, your beliefs, and you can — especially at that time of your life, end of life journey — that you know that those things are in place," said Chechock, who's from Wasauksing.

"So when the staff realizes that, and is aware of those things — those ceremonies, the idea of smudging, the importance of it, the importance of us being able to look after our loved ones — very, very important."

Along with being more sensitive to Anishinaabe practices around death, Honsinger wants to make the hospice more inclusive by recruiting more Indigenous volunteers to its team "to create something that makes sense for our community."

"Our web is getting bigger," added Poytress. "And I would like us to be shown as a model, that we're willing, and the bridges that we are building."