COCHRANE— Walking to raise money and awareness for hospice and palliative care, the Cochrane and Area Hospice Society is encouraging Cochranites to participate in the Virtual Hike for Hospice.
The hike runs for the month of May and those who participate can virtually complete a five-kilometre hike, walk, skip or cycle indoors or outdoors to raise money, said Cochrane Hospice Society chair Ozzie Sawicki.
“The importance of this is getting people in the community learning about what end-of-life is all about and that it can be a time that is really important to a family,” Sawicki said. “We want to create awareness so that people know all of the resources available to them so they can know they are not alone when that time comes.”
The ultimate goal of the campaign is to raise recognition for hospice and palliative care.
The annual hike takes place across Canada and to adhere to COVID-19 public health protocols will be taking place virtually this year. In the past, it has taken place at Mitford Park in Cochrane.
“There’s been good support over the number of years we have been doing this— We want this to be something that continues year-to-year so the virtual hike is really important to us,” Sawicki said. “It’s just a shame that we can’t get together in person.”
The Cochrane and Area Hospice Society formed in 2017 and first participated in the hike in 2018.
It has been exciting and encouraging this year to see the community support and rally around the hike. They have already seen participants complete their five-kilometre hike and donations are continuing to roll in.
Sawicki added he appreciates the videos Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie and Banff-Airdrie MP Blake Richards created in support of the event.
Funds raised during the hike support different Hospice Society projects.
These initiatives include a Grief Support Walk that runs every Tuesday at 10 a.m., the Remembrance Tree program at the Cochrane Ranche and the creation of comfort kits.
The comfort kits are provided to those experiencing in-home care who are approaching the end of their life journey. The kits include journals, quilts, information on respite care and other items.
The Hospice Society has also partnered with Helping Hands and has two suites of volunteers including a group who have completed Alberta Health Services palliative care training. The training allows volunteers to go into homes and provide comfort and support through social interactions. Other volunteers help get groceries, shovel walkways and complete other chores that do not require palliative knowledge.
“Everything we try to raise goes into those types of efforts,” Sawicki said.
The Hospice Society is building on the strong foundation they have established over the past four years to take on bigger projects, Sawicki said.
The larger purpose of the organization is to create conversations with Points West Living, Big Hill Lodge and Bethany Care about the potential of bringing two hospice beds to Cochrane.
“It makes no sense for us as a Hospice Society to build a bricks-and-mortar hospice, it makes a lot more sense to partner with one of the existing facilities to add one to two beds to the facility,” Sawicki said. “Our goal is to raise dollars so that we can build an endowment from which the interest from the endowment can support the management of those beds.”
Right now, anyone needing end-of-life care is required to move to Calgary or Canmore for hospice care. Sawicki said it is important to keep people in the community to support families and loved ones experiencing end-of-life care.
End-of-life care is a topic the Hospice Society hopes to see become less taboo.
“It’s part of a life journey. We are all going to pass away. We have no choice, it’s the one equalizer. We’re all born and we all die,” Sawicki said. “I think there is a societal blockage or fear about talking about death. We celebrate birth we don’t celebrate death in the same way because there is a fear about death.”
The Hospice Society has brought together a group of like-minded people willing to talk about end-of-life care and what that experience looks like. This can include unpacking personal directives, goals of care, getting legal and financial pieces in order and other aspects involved for those who are near death.
“The conversation for us it is very much about how we can get people to have these conversations while they’re still healthy,” Sawicki said. “They can have those conversations as a family and make decisions as a family.”
To register or donate to the Hike for Hospice fundraiser email [email protected]. The fundraising total of the 2021 event will be announced on June 1. For more information visit cochranehospicesociety.ca.
