Wholistic Palliative Home Support Program

The Cause

In Edmonton, we have a need for quality palliative homecare. Right now, over 50% of clients who are part of the Palliative Homecare Program in Edmonton end up dying in hospital, despite having expressed their wishes to die in home. We know this is due to a lack of access to effective pain control, and nursing care. The current system does not offer 24 hour care, which is needed for quality pain management.
At Ember, we are women owned, and women led and want to launch the first wholistic palliative home care program in Alberta, which includes palliative care teams made up of Registered Nurses, LPN's, Health care Aids, Health Navigators and Death Doulas. We would support this program with a comprehensive palliative care training program to increase the skillset of our staff.
Not only would clients be able to die with dignity in their homes, but their families would be supported with our death doulas. These are caring individuals who will ensure families are aware of the next steps in the process of dying. They support family members by making food, walking the dog, feeding the pets, making sure family members get a shower, packing school lunches for any children. They take care of anything the family may no longer have the bandwidth to attend to. Our nurses will manage the comfort of the client, using pain protocols to ensure clients are kept safe and their pain is managed. Our Health navigator will ensure clients and families are able to access all public funding for a home death. They also walk families through what they will need to think about in the coming days in regards to funerals, and can refer them to legal resources as needed.
Our goal is to provide clients and their families with the best death possible in their homes instead of hospitals.

Who Will it Benefit?

This program will benefit all people seeking end of life homecare in Edmonton, and their families. Palliative care is not only for the elderly. There are many young Albertans, and families of palliative children who also wish to pass away in their homes. There is no one demographic, as death and dying effects people of all ages and their families.
We estimate this program will benefit thousands of Albertans over the course of the programs life span.