Hospice of Waterloo Region provides paediatric hospice care to families
whose child has been diagnosed with a life threatening illness. Hospice
volunteers can help in the following ways:
- Provide emotional, spiritual and practical support.
- Visit the palliative child at home or in other health
care settings.
- Drive a child and accompanying parent/guardian to
medical appointments.
- Spend time with siblings to provide respite care
for the parent(s) or to allow the parent(s) one-on-one
time with the ill child.
- Help with meal prep, homework.
- Sit with ill child in the evening to provide other
family members an opportunity to a take a break.
- Provide night sitting services in the last days
of life to allow the parent(s) the opportunity to
rest.
Hospice of Waterloo Region volunteers have completed a 33 hour training
program and have been screened by the agency. They are matched with
families according to their personalities and common interests and
the needs of the particular family.
Available Ongoing Support:
- Hospice’s Resource Library is equipped with
a large selection of children’s books available
for loan to individuals and families.
- Volunteers support families through the child’s
illness and can continue with one-on-one visits for
bereavement support for a period of 6 months after
a death.
- Children’s/Teen Bereavement Support Groups
are professionally run therapy groups for children
and teens living with a terminally ill family member
or have experienced the death of a loved one. Therapists
help children explore their feelings around their
loss and help them discover positive coping mechanisms
for dealing with their losses.
- Parenting Through Grief Support Group runs concurrent
with the children’s program and gives the parents
the opportunity to receive support and information
to help them cope with their grief and the challenges
they may face parenting their children through loss.
- The Bereavement Walking Group is a form of bereavement
support for individuals who have lost a loved one.
It is an opportunity for bereaved individuals to walk
with others in similar circumstances and receive the
support of volunteers and fellow walkers.
All services at Hospice
of Waterloo Region are offered free of charge to the family.
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