Canadian Cancer Society Launches Campaign Calling for Hospice Construction

Billboards to pop up across the province in underserved communities

OTTAWA, ON –(COMMUNITYWIRE)– The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) is launching the Bring Care Closer campaign to urge Ontario and other provincial governments to build new hospice residences, so more families have the option to choose hospice care closer to home.

An October 2023 report by CCS found that governments across Canada are falling short of delivering quality palliative care for people with progressive illnesses like cancer. Every region should have seven hospice beds per 100,000 people according to the Auditor General of Ontario. But Canada only has 3.97 hospice beds per 100,000 people as of 2022 with only British Columbia and Yukon surpassing the seven-bed threshold.

Ontario is not even halfway towards the target seven hospice beds per 100,000 people, with only 3.47 per 100,000 people.

The Bring Care Closer campaign is placing billboards and digital ads in underserved communities where there is local community momentum for building a hospice. Each ad will mark the extreme distance to the nearest hospice residence. In Ontario that includes Kemptville, the Kawartha Lakes and Georgina.

Daniel Nowoselski, Advocacy Manager – Hospice Palliative Care for CCS, said everyone should have access to hospice residence close to home.

“Everyone facing a life-limiting illness like cancer deserves to have meaningful choices when it comes to where they receive care. But for too many people in Ontario, the nearest hospice residence is far away from home. I’ve met with families who had the heart-wrenching options of a loved one spending their final weeks in a place where they aren’t comfortable, or sending them far away and getting on the highway again and again to be at their side in their final weeks,” said Nowoselski. “That’s why we’re partnering with community groups across the province to urge the government to build hospice residences where they are greatly needed. Hospice residences are an important part of Canada’s health care system, and we should all have access to them.”

Nowoselski said palliative care is about life, helping people live as well as they can in the time they have left—so they can focus on what matters when it matters most, like spending time with family. Hospice residences are home-like settings that deliver pain control and symptom control as well as psychosocial and spiritual support during end-of-life care. Hospice residences also help families navigate grief and bereavement.

Without access to a hospice residence, people are more likely to spend their final days in a setting they didn’t choose, which may include a hospital or repeatedly rushing to a crowded and hectic emergency room.

Ontarians can support CCS’s calls for better hospice care by sending a letter to their elected official at cancer.ca/hospice.

About the Canadian Cancer Society

The Canadian Cancer Society works tirelessly to save and improve lives. We raise funds to fuel the brightest minds in cancer research. We provide a compassionate support system for all those affected by cancer, across Canada and for all types of cancer. Together with patients, supporters, donors and volunteers, we work to create a healthier future for everyone. Because to take on cancer, it takes all of us. It takes a society.

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