This month we are looking back to October 2016 and June 2017 to the creation of our founding principles through community conversations.

New West Hospice Society began with a conversation among a small group of friends. The group of friends hosted Community Conversations. These conversations grew to include members of the community: politicians, health care professionals, educators, representatives from non profit organizations, members of the Arts community, volunteers, and citizens of all ages.

Everyone was welcome. Every voice mattered.

People spoke, but they also listened. They shared stories about love and loss. They shared their dreams about how end of life ought to be. They shared anger about the loss of hospice beds in New Westminster.

They made commitments to making end of life care better for people in New Westminster.

Topics discussed ranged from education, support, social changes, and community involvement.

From these dialogues rose our three main priorities:

• Normalizing the conversation around death, dying, and grief
• Reaching in via neighbours helping neighbours
• Establishing a Hospice residence

Those conversations have led to the development of programs like our Compassionate City Crew. These are trained volunteers who support people at end of life wherever they choose to spend their last days. Voice for the Vulnerable is a program that reaches out to the homeless to develop an Advance Care Plan so that their wishes about end of life will be respected. We host an annual Dialogue on Death and Dying in partnership with Century House.

We have formed partnerships with other non profit organizations as a result of these conversations because together we are stronger. And we have continued to lobby different levels of government because “New West Needs a Hospice.”