Saskatchewan’s first free-standing hospice to take in first patients this week

By Caitlyn Lepp

Saskatchewan’s first free-standing hospice is to open in Saskatoon this week.

The 15-bed hospice is owned by St. Paul’s Hospital and governed by Emmanuel Health. The fundraising for the Hospice at Glengarda, located on Hilliard Street, has been ongoing for some time and now the opening date has arrived.

Lecina Hicke, the CEO of the St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation, says the need for a hospice in Saskatchewan was evident.

“We as a province were just a bit behind the mark when it came to delivering accessible quality end-of-life care. What that meant to a lot of people in our community is that they didn’t necessarily know what they were missing because we quite simply never had access to something quite like it,” she said.

A hospice is a place that provides a patient and loved ones a less-overwhelming environment in which to say goodbye. Hicke explained that hospitals sometimes don’t always know how to provide for people going through their last days.

“We think about the hospice as being a setting that’s close to home. What we want to do is respect the incidence of what happened, which is families preparing to say goodbye to the people that they love,” she says.

Hicke says the palliative care area in St. Paul’s has had nothing but good feedback for the staff and the programs that support patients’ families within it, but it’s in an acute-care setting.

“We had people face the end of life in a hospital in a unit that wasn’t really specific for that kind of care, so that meant that staff weren’t necessarily trained to deliver that kind of care and most importantly the physicality of the space is not something you would want,” she said.

Creating a positive environment for someone going through palliative care is crucial.

“A lot of people anticipate that they might like to face end of life at home and for many that can be the case, but in the same instance what can happen is people become overwhelmed by what it actually means to help someone get towards those last days,” Hicke said. “It’s physically, psychologically (and) spiritually very challenging.”

The goal of the hospice is to help families going through these circumstances to be able to be a mother, wife, child and so on for the patient instead of a caregiver.

“We hope to have created a space that is not only mindful of the patient experience, but also for their families and loved ones who are sharing that experience with them,” Hicke said.

During the pandemic, it is a lot harder to see family or say goodbye to the ones who are in extensive care. With the hospice opening up, the operations team is keeping safety in mind.

“We have teams coming up with a plan that is respectful of the circumstance and at the same time mindful of the fact that we are still in the midst of a pandemic,” Hicke said.

The hospice’s first patients are to arrive this week.