Choice in Supports for Independent Living (CSIL) is a program offered in British Columbia. CSIL is an alternative way for people with disabilities in BC to receive home support services. When a person has a life-threatening illness, they may require a substantial amount of care for a period of time. Home support services and palliative care benefits are available and helpful,…
When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.” ― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh When we are grieving, we may want to distance ourselves from our anger, confusion, or pain….
Aquamation is a method of cremation that is significantly more environmentally responsible than fire-based cremation. Also known as alkaline hydrolysis, resomation, and water cremation, it involves liquefying the body under pressure in a mixture of potassium hydroxide and water. The decomposition process is the same as that which occurs naturally when a body is buried, but at an accelerated rate….
Jennifer Stevens died at home on Cortes Island on July 26th, 2022, surrounded by her family. Her body was tended to and remained in her cabin for three days. The friend who built an exquisite casket said, “It was really hard to build that coffin, I just wanted to keep working on it, keep adding things to it, I loved…
If you’re named as the executor in someone’s Will, you may need to probate the Will. Probate is a procedure done in court that confirms the Will is legally valid. Financial institutions and others holding assets of the estate often require assurance the Will presented is legally valid before transferring funds or assets. The executor of the Will may also…
A Will is a legal document that sets out what will happen after you die to (most of) your property and any minor children. It’s an important legal document, and one every adult should have. If you have considerable assets, if your Will might be contested, or if it’s complicated, it is wise to pay for the help of a…
Suzanne B. O’Brien RN, creator of Doulagivers, has been at the forefront of the End-of-Life Doula Movement in the United States since it began building momentum nearly a decade ago. She has years of experience working with over one thousand end-of-life patients as a hospice nurse and palliative care professional. Suzanne writes that Death is currently the number one fear…
In difficult times, hope can be the one thing that keeps our spirits afloat when all else seems lost. Though you may find yourself in a hole that is dark and deep and seems infinite, it won’t last forever. Someday you will look back and remember that time and place, and how difficult it was. Through the seasons of confusion,…
As people become aware of the environmental impact of both conventional burial and cremation, natural burial is becoming a choice in more communities. Rather than being new, this is a return to an older, simpler way of returning bodies to the earth. Here in Canada, burials must take place only in a designated cemetery, and graves are not re-used. Bodies…
Although most Canadians say they’d like to die at home, more than half of us die in a hospital. Subsequently, it is nurses, particularly those who work in hospice care, who are with the patient, or the patient and their family, when the death occurs. At our recent meeting, we invited Huguette, a retired hospice nurse, to share with us….