Programs and Services

 

Hospice Northumberland offers a client-centered approach. Our trained volunteers are part of a multi-disciplinary team of professionals and non-professionals who assist clients and their families with the special needs that result from life-threatening illness.

 

Hospice volunteers:

  1. Give companionship and comfort
  2. Provide respite for caregivers
  3. Help with shopping and errands
  4. Spend time with children
  5. Provide company to doctor’s appointments
  6. Help preparing meals or snacks
  7. Have fun and share tears
  8. Give emotional support
  9. Lend an ear to listen, give a heart to share
  10. Extend a hand to hold

 

Hospice Northumberland has two key areas of services for clients:

 

Palliative services are designed to support both the individual who has been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, as well as family members and caregivers.

 

Bereavement services are designed to support family members after the death of loved ones.

 

Services are generally offered where the client is living, including home, in long-term care facilities and within the hospital environment.

 

All services are delivered by trained Volunteers.

 

Palliative Care Services include:

  1. Visiting Companionship – volunteers provide personal care and emotional, social and spiritual support
  2. Caregiver Respite – volunteers provide necessary respite for family members and caregivers
  3. Caregiver Support – volunteers provide emotional, social and spiritual help for family and friends
  4. Vigil Support – volunteers assist with end-of-life vigils, ensuring clients are not alone
  5. Case Management – staff liaise with other health care providers to address client needs

Bereavement Services Include:

  1. One To One Support – volunteers are available to provide support for up to one year following the death of a loved one
  2. Group Support – facilitated by volunteers, groups are scheduled for 8 2-hour sessions
  3. Special Occasion Sessions – these one-time group sessions focus on special dates or occasions such as Christmas, holidays, mothers and fathers day
  4. Memory Boxes – volunteers can assist clients amd family members with making memory boxes
  5. Memorial Service – in partnership with a local funeral home, a memorial service is held during the holiday season
  6. Memory Tree – through the holiday season, the community is invited to place a dove on a community tree to honour a loved one
     
     
     

Infant Memory Boxes:

Nothing can take away the pain of the death of a baby, but a memory box recognizes the importance and significance of the loss of the baby and offers support for the grieving families.

 

Hospice is proud to introduce a new program to the Northumberland community. Memory Boxes will be offered to the hospitals and funeral homes in the area to support families experiencing a miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death.

 

Included in the boxes are items such as nighties, sweaters, blankets, hats and booties, hand sewn and knitted by volunteers, a journal, tiny box for a locket of hair, and a bracelet.

 

Library:

 

Hospice maintains a library of books and videos that can be of interest to both the general public and professional communities. Topics such as caregiving, ethics, spirituality, grief and bereavement, funerals, and titles for children and youth, are available for loan.

 

Public Presentations:

 

Hospice has a team of volunteers who are ready to visit throughout the community, and to share the history, stories and programs and services, of the organization.