An update from Hospice PEI
To our loyal supporters and followers,
We want to start off by saying thank you for your continued support to Hospice PEI over the last 6 months. During this time we have had to make many changes and have had to completely re-evaluate the way we work and operate. When the pandemic first began, we were forced to postpone fundraising events, postpone volunteer training, cancel grief groups, and unfortunately, suspended all client bedside services.
Thankfully, after a job well done by our fellow Islanders and the Chief Public Health Office, our community is seeing a slow return to normal. By practising the public health guidelines set out by Dr. Morrison’s office, our volunteers have slowly been able to return to the volunteer duties that they missed greatly. Currently our volunteers are back to serving clients in the home as well as in long term care facilities.
We also want to take this opportunity to thank anyone who participated in our first virtual event, Hike + Bike for Hospice. Although we weren’t sure what a virtual event would mean for us, our 2020 virtual Hike + Bike for Hospice ended up being our most successful Hike to date with $17,000 being raised for Islanders and their families who are facing a life-limiting illness.
Once again, we want to extend a sincere thank you to anyone who has supported us in any capacity over the past 6 months. As we move into the Fall we hope the support we have been shown can continue. One of our annual fundraising events is slowly coming up, Let Their Light Shine, and although we’re still unsure how this event will end up looking this year, we hope that you will be able to join us, whether virtually or in person at one of our memory forests.
COVID-19 Resources
Government of PEI COVID-19 Information
Government of PEI COVID-19 FAQs
Hospice PEI COVID-19 Community Resource
Carers Canada COVID-19 Resources
Mental Health Commission Resources
Affected Events And Groups
Dancing With The Stars: Our annual signature event Dancing With The Stars, which was scheduled for Saturday October 17, 2020, has been postponed. Please check our Dancing With The Stars page on our website or follow our social media pages for updates.
Volunteer Training: All volunteer training courses scheduled for Spring 2020 have been postponed. If you are signed up for one of these training sessions, the volunteer coordinator for your region will be reaching out to you with the new training dates once they have been decided on.
Grief And Isolation
Grief is a profoundly isolating experience that may be magnified for many people during the current crisis. Our trained grief support volunteers are available for phone support to help you manage this emotionally complex time.
Many people manage their grief in healthy ways by keeping busy with outside activities and social events. When they are ready, they can spend more time alone to process their grief. The current situation may have pushed you into an isolation that means you must confront your grief earlier than you were prepared for. Having a grief support volunteer can help by providing a listening ear, someone you don’t need to protect or reassure that ‘you’re ok’, someone who will keep the conversation confidential, someone who cares.
When you have lost a spouse or family member who lived with you, your house itself can be a painful place where their absence is most powerful. The current requirement to stay home may be especially difficult without the opportunity to leave those empty spaces that remind you of your loss. Grief support volunteers understand the loneliness you are feeling, the hardship of finding a new normal, and especially of finding a way to make your home a place of comfort again.
The COVID-19 emergency may trigger anxiety about death, of your vulnerable loved ones and your own mortality. Thoughts about death may also bring back grief for the people you have lost in the past but perhaps hadn’t thought about for a long time, or had felt you had “gotten over”. These fears and feelings are natural and can be eased by conversation with a grief support volunteer who knows that grief and loss can spread across your thoughts in distressing ways.
Grief Support Toll-Free: 1-844-954-7433 (1-844-95GRIEF)
How To Support
Hospice PEI is so grateful for the continued financial support of our selfless donors. Hospice PEI is 100% non-profit and relies on donations to maintain our various volunteer services to our clients and their families, and this need continues.
Although our offices are closed to the public, we are still accepting credit card donations over the phone, as well as accepting e-transfers. To make a credit card donation over the phone, please call Ellen at 902-368-4498. Etransfer donations can be sent to [email protected] with the password as hospicepei.
To make a donation online through CanadaHelps, please click the button below.
If you prefer to donate with cheque, we ask that the cheque be made out to Hospice PEI and mailed to:
93 Murchison Lane
Charlottetown, PE C1A 0G3
If you have questions regarding the handling of donations during this time, please contact us at [email protected] and we would be happy to answer your questions.