My Mother spent a very short period of time at Hospice Wellington in Guelph at the end of her battle with lung cancer and vascular dementia. My wife and I had followed her from hospital to hospital, and into a long-term care facility for a time as well. There are a lot of people who are working in the healthcare system who are trying to do a lot of good on very limited resources. When the time came to place my Mother into palliative care, I learned firsthand just what a hospice facility does that the other facilities do not: They accept death as an inevitable part of life and they make the transition from the life we knew to its absence as painless as possible both for the person departing and those they leave behind. I cannot imagine a more supportive, caring, and peaceful place for my Mother to have spent her last days. She was given care around the clock in the privacy of her own room. My wife and I were able to spend her last night with her, and to be by her side as she slipped from us. The staff joined us to say goodbye, even after only two days. Hospice understands that those last days become all the more precious when there are no more to come. Hospitals and long-term care facilities are simply not designed to accept death this way, but hospice is. I cannot imagine how much more difficult it would have been to watch my mother leave from a noisy and public place. Hospice Wellington offered her the opportunity to die with dignity and peace, free from pain, in the company of her family, and I cannot say enough how truly valuable that is to one’s peace of mind in the years that follow, nor of how grateful my wife and I are for such a wonderful facility.
Rob G., Guelph Ontario
