Hospice Society revises name to include new services

The Prince George Hospice Society has changed its name to properly represent the overall work of the organization.

The new name changed to: Prince George Hospice Palliative Care Society and was officially updated on September 22, at the Society’s Annual General Meeting, where the board voted unanimously to make the change.

According to CEO Donna Flood, this change reflects the expansion of services provided over the past five years.

“Over the past five years, we’ve really expanded into the community by offering support to people who are just starting their journey. They might not even be dying, but they might be suffering from a serious illness that they need support or that their family or caregivers have, ”Flood said.

According to Flood, the term “hospice” is a bit stigmatized, so many think it means strictly “die” or “end of life”, while palliative care refers to the entire course of the disease.

The organization offers a range of support services such as the COVID-19 Survivor Support Group which meets weekly.

“When we announced that we were doing this service, the immediate reaction was’ why is Hospice doing this? “And then we realized that we had entered more into palliative care and so we need our name to reflect that,” she explained.

Flood says the COVID-19 survivor group has been invaluable to attendees and is held weekly so survivors can discuss the long-term physical and psychological effects the virus has had on them.

As part of its palliative care programs, the organization also offers a range of bereavement support programs.

“One of our most important programs is our care program for someone at home caring for a person with a life-threatening illness who meets again other people who are going through the same things and support each other, ”she said.

The Caregiver Support Group meets every Thursday at 1 p.m.

Programs are also available for grieving children and for parents of grieving children.