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People who
are dying have physical, emotional, spiritual and social needs, many
of which are not currently being met, in spite of the vast resources
of our health care system.
A recent CBC program
A Good Death, also
found that
in Canada, access to quality end-of-life care depends on which
community we reside in, the economic class we belong to, our
cultural and ethnic origins, our personal belief system and the
level of cohesion in our family.
And
according to research by the Economist news magazine, Canada is tied
with the US, in ninth place globally, in terms of quality of
end-of-life care.
This
is a sad state of affairs in a country with so much knowledge and
such abundant resources at its disposal.
The
Hospice Society of Greater Halifax is dedicated to supporting
individuals with life-limiting illnesses and their families.
Founded in 2001, our organization is a non-sectarian,
mainly volunteer, registered charity. Our
members come from many walks of life, but all share one common
belief—that these needs can be met within the concept of
Hospice.
Based
in the community, hospices care for the whole person and respect
individual choice in defining quality of life.
We are
committed to the establishment of free-standing residential hospice
facilities within the Capital Health District.
We are also
actively working to expand awareness of the strengths of hospice
palliative care with all levels of government and throughout the
community.
Although we do not yet have a
residential hospice in the HRM area, we do offer
support programs and
services for individuals and their families.
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