“A Place to Turn: Compassionate Hospice Care for Families in Crisis"​

​

When Susan first came to Hospice, her world had fallen apart. Her son had been tragically killed in a car accident, and the pain felt unbearable. She remembers walking through the Hospice doors barely able to breathe — but she was met with compassion, care, and the counselling support she needed to survive the unimaginable. Slowly, she began to heal.

Life eventually moved forward, but ten years later, grief returned when Susan’s husband passed away. This time, the loneliness was crushing. She had no close circle of friends, and her days felt empty and without purpose. So, she came back to the one place that had once held her through heartbreak — Hospice.

​

When Susan arrived, she was greeted with open arms and familiar warmth. Counselling once again helped her find her footing, and before long she joined a grief support group. It was there that Susan rediscovered something she hadn’t realized she was missing: connection.

Sitting among others who truly understood softened her loneliness. In their shared stories, she found strength and belonging.

​

As Susan healed, she began to feel a quiet pull to give back — to offer others what had been given to her. She started volunteering at Hospice events, helped with administrative work, and eventually took the Hospice volunteer training course. Supporting families at the end of life became her greatest source of meaning.

​

One moment stands out in Susan’s heart. She had just joined the Hospice Vigil Team when she was called to sit with a woman who was at the end of life and had no family nearby. With only one nurse on the night shift, Susan knew it was important that someone be present.

​

She sat beside the woman from 7 p.m. until 2 a.m., gently talking to her, holding her hand, and simply being there so she would not die alone. When the woman slipped away, Susan felt something she hadn’t expected — not fear or sadness, but peace.

​

In that quiet room, she realized what it truly means to be present for another human being. “It was humbling and deeply human,” she says. “I knew I had given her something that mattered.”

Since becoming part of Hospice, Susan says her heart has changed. She notices people differently now. When she passes someone on the street, she meets their eyes — and if she sees pain or sadness, she isn’t afraid to ask, “Are you okay?”

​

Hospice didn’t just help Susan heal. It gave her purpose. It surrounded her with compassion and invited her to be part of something larger — a community of care that holds one another through life’s hardest moments.

​

Susan believes something powerful: death should be honored as much as birth. To her, celebrating a person’s life as they are dying is one of the greatest gifts we can give — to them, and to those they love.

​

Through Hospice, Susan found not only healing, but a new way to live — with compassion, purpose, and an open heart.

​