Bereavement Support in South Eastman

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Bereavement Support in South Eastman

• September 21, 2007,
• 1130 a.m. 1230 p.m.
• Concurrent Session D

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SEHs Bereavement Support Team

• Maggie Magnusson Bereavement Support
  Coordinator (volunteer)
• Ruby Garand Palliative Care Psychosocial
  Specialist
• Larry Hirst Chaplain, Bethesda Hospital and
  Place
• Trained Volunteers for phone support services and
  home visitation support services

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A Brief History of Bereavement Support in South
Eastman

• 1995-2000 Palliative Care Services offered the
  Memory Tree and Memory Trees Memorial Service
  prior to Christmas each December.
• 1995-2000 Palliative Care Services offered
  several spring Gathering of memories evenings
  as well as a Spring Memory Tree.
• 1999- Telephone Bereavement Support was
  introduced using volunteers

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History continued

• 2001 A Volunteer Coordinator position was
  established. First funded through donation
  dollars, since has become a RHA funded position
• 2002 Planned the first Healing Group as an
  annual opportunity, since then it has become a
  simi-annual opportunity.

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Our Bereavement Support Services

• Bereavement Support Packet
• Healing Groups
• Telephone Bereavement Support
• Bereavement Support Home Visitation
• One on One Bereavement Support Counseling
• Annual memory Tree and Memory Tree Memorial
  Service
• Teaching and Training

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1. Bereavement Support Packet

• When is the packet sent?
• Our Bereavement Support Packet is sent out to
  the home of those who have experienced the loss
  of a loved one about 2 weeks after the death by
  our Palliative Care Administrative Assistant.

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Bereavement Support Packet

• What does the Packet contain?
• Our Bereavement Packet contains information that
  is intended to providing our clients with
  resources to help them understand the bereavement
  process as well as understanding how to access
  resources to assist them as they journey through
  their grief.

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Our Bereavement Support Packet Contains

• Letter explaining the purpose of the packet
• A Number of articles
• Helping Children through Grief
• Helping Spouses through Grief
• How to Help Yourself through the Holidays
• How will I heal?
• Reconciling Your Grief
• The Grief Experience

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Our Bereavement Support Packet Contains

• A copy of The Mourners Code
• A Sympathy Card from the Palliative Team
• A Bibliography of locally available books on
  grief
• Bereavement Support Services Handout
• Business Cards Maggie Magnusson, Ruby Garand
  Larry Hirst
• A label containing information about the next
  Healing Group

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2. The Healing Group

• Our Healing Group is a six week Bereavement
  Support Group offered in the Spring and Fall of
  each year.
• Information is first provided in the Bereavement
  Packet. Brochure in the packet contains
  registration for Healing Group
• Participants are called to inquire about which of
  the Bereavement services offered they would like
  to take advantage of

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The Healing Group

• Prior to the start of each group participants
  are called to see if they wishes to join the
  Healing Group.
• The Healing Groups are limited to 12 individuals
• They meet six consecutive Monday evenings from 7
  9 p.m.
• In the chapel of Bethesda Place Personal care Home

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The Healing Group

• The six evenings each have a theme
• Introduction, Registration, Objectives and Goal
  Setting
• Exploring and Learning about our responses to
  grief emotionally physically
• Taking care of yourself physically as you grieve
• Self-care and nurturing
• Challenges while grieving
• Gathering and sharing memories

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The Healing Group

• The evenings are facilitated by Maggie Magnusson
• Maggie often invites a guest presenter
• A doctor to talk about caring for yourself
  physically
• A Palliative Care Nurse and a Volunteer from
  Hospice and palliative care to talk about self
  care
• The Chaplain to talk about the challenges facing
  those who are grieving

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The Healing Group

• Each gathering has a number of rituals
• A check in ritual where each member shares what
  they did in the previous week to care for
  themselves
• The ritual of sharing a snack half way through
  the evening, relationships often deepen as people
  share during the break
• The ritual of giving and receiving. Each evening
  each person brings a token gift and the gifts are
  placed in a basket, at the end of the evening the
  basket is passed and each person takes a gift.
  This encourages self care and mutual
  accountability

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The Healing Group

• The closing evening a memorial service is held.
  Each person is asked to bring a picture of the
  person they are grieving.
• During the evening stories are told, tears are
  shed, memories are honored as a means of saying,
  Its OK to grieve our losses, to be touched
  deeply by our pain, to hold on to our memories,
  for as we do, we begin the process of healing
  from the wound that the death of our loved one
  inflicted on our spirit.

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3. Telephone Bereavement Support

• Voluntary service offered to participants
• Calls made by trained volunteers (regular
  Palliative Care Volunteer training Telephone
  Bereavement Support training)
• Calls are made on a regular schedule

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Telephone Bereavement Support

• The begin 2-3 weeks after the death and continue
  for a year following the death.
• The frequency of the calls slowly declines as the
  year passes and the bereaved experience healing
• Calls are made and , documentation is maintained
  and kept in the Volunteer Coordinators office

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4. Bereavement Support Home Visitation

• Presently this service is quite sporadic
• We do have trained volunteers (regular Palliative
  Care Volunteer Training Home Visitation
  training)

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5. One To One Bereavement Counseling

• We have three people offering One to One
  Bereavement Counseling in our Region
• Maggie Magnusson with a background as a
  Registered Psychiatric Nurse
• Ruby Garand with a background in Social Work
• Larry Hirst with a background in Pastoral Care

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One To One Bereavement Counseling

• One to One Bereavement Counseling is provide by
  one of three of our Team members
• Maggie Magnusson Bereavement Coordinator
• Ruby Garand Psychosocial Specialist
• Larry Hirst Chaplain
• Provided on an as needed basis to those
  participants that desire more personal attention
  to deal with the struggles of their loss

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6. Memory Tree and Memory Tree Memorial Service

• Each December Our Palliative Program provides a
  Memory Tree in the Clearspring Mall in Steinbach.
  This 15-20 foot Christmas Tree is then adorned
  with cards signed my hundreds of members of the
  community and Region who want to remember a loved
  one during the Christmas season. The Tree is
  manned by members of our Palliative Care
  Volunteer team.

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Memory Tree Memorial Service

• At the end of the Christmas season, either just
  prior to or just after Christmas we hold a public
  Service of Remembrance.
• This service is led by Chaplain Larry Hirst a
  member of the Team and is supported by the other
  members of the Team
• A copy of the service can be had upon request
  from Larry Hirst contact by email
  lhirst_at_sehealth.mb.ca

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7. Teaching

• Bereavement Training happens in several venues in
  South Eastman Health
• Palliative Care Training for HCAs one of the
  modules in our Palliative Care HCA training
  relates to the sensitivity required to understand
  and relate to the family who is left to mourn the
  death

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Teaching

• Palliative Care Volunteer Training several of
  the sessions relate to the development of skills
  our volunteers will need to deal with the grief
  experienced when there is a death
• Specialized training is provided to select
  volunteers for our Telephone Support Service (a
  training manual has been developed for this
  training)
• Specialized training is provided for select
  volunteers for our Bereavement Home Visitation
  Service ( a training manual has been developed
  for this training)

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Teaching

• Periodically the Bereavement Support Team
  provides a Grieving During the Holidays in-
  service for the general public.

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The Challenges of providing consistent
Bereavement Support

• Keeping in touch with the bereaved we serve at
  times the number and need can tax our limits
• Telephone Bereavement Support volunteers can not
  make calls from their homes for reasons of
  confidentiality program records do not leave
  the office

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The Challenges of providing consistent
Bereavement Support

• Corporate policy dictates that all materials be
  translated into French, this results in some long
  delays as we wait for the translation and
  publishing to happen
• Our geography (as in each rural or northern RHA)
  can be a challenge as we have no funding to pay
  for the gas of volunteers who are integral to our
  program

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Conclusion

• Bereavement support is the final chapter for a
  well rounded Palliative Care Program. However,
  funding for this aspect is scarce if not
  non-existent. Palliative Care Teams who desire
  to do this well will have to depend largely on
  trained and dedicated volunteers.

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Questions
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Thank You

• The South Eastman Palliative Care Team
• Anne Plett Regional Palliative Care Coordinator
  (1.0 EFT)
• Maggie Cowell Palliative Care Volunteer
  Coordinator (0.5 EFT)
• Pauline Gosselin (0.4 EFT) and Debbie Krahn (0.5
  EFT) Regional Palliative Care Nurses
• Ruby Garand Regional Psychosocial Specialist
  (1.0 EFT)
• Maggie Magnusson Bereavement Coordinator
  (volunteer)
• Dr. Darren Reimer Medical Director of
  Palliative Care ( 0.2 EFT)
• Larry Hirst Chaplain at Bethesda Hospital and
  Place