Care for families and caregivers
Caregivers play an important role in providing emotional, practical, physical, social and cognitive support to a person living with serious illness. Caring for a spouse, parent, family member, friend, or neighbour can be both challenging and rewarding. We are here for you as family members or caregivers of someone living with illness.
How we help
We help families and caregivers understand end-of-life issues that may come up so you can be more prepared with what to expect as a person’s condition changes. We will support you through the changes and can help you identify and communicate with other helpers in the family or community who may be able to support caregiving.
Sometimes there are children and young people closely connected to the person with illness. We can guide you with suggestions on how to talk with children about illness, dying and death.
Respite care is short-term care that provides a break from caregiving. Our in-person wellness day program (offered every Tuesday) and our Home Hospice Volunteers offer a source of respite for caregivers for up to 4 hours. In some situations, we may also be able to provide short overnight respite stays in our hospice residence.
Spiritual care is the exploration of beliefs, values, hopes and sources of resilience. It can be helpful whether you practise a religion or not. Spiritual care services include:
- Supportive counselling, exploring feelings of spiritual distress (confusion, numbness, fear, despair, guilt, hopelessness)
- Exploring spiritual beliefs, faith and rituals to facilitate a sense of hope and healing, purpose and meaning
- Connections to local faith communities
When someone has a serious illness, we often start grieving the loss of the person while they are still alive. There is no single way to cope with a death we know is coming. We each react and cope differently.
While we cannot fully prepare for the death of someone you care about, Dorothy Ley Hospice can support you during this and help you find ways to make the most of your time left with the person.
Our wellness services can help to promote relaxation and calm and improve sleep. The services are delivered by trained hospice volunteers who are certified in their respective treatment(s) and are provided in your home, at the hospice residence, and by distance. Offerings include:
- Therapeutic Touch®
- Reiki
- Gentle Aroma Touch
- Yoga practice
- Meditation groups
- Creative and mindful art expression
Your wellness as a caregiver is an important part of palliative care.
You don’t need to go through this alone.