Friends of Hospice Ottawa Salutes CCAC and Our Heroes in the Home

Recently, local community organizations were invited by the Champlain Community Care Access Centre (CCAC) to help celebrate our local heroes who don’t often make the headlines.

These Friends of Hospice Ottawa Heroes in the Home are those people who dedicate all or much of their time – and we don’t mean spare time – to care at home for a loved one who is living with a life-threatening illness: the type of care that often permits their loved ones to remain at home where they most prefer to be rather than in an acute care hospital bed. These Heroes are the primary caregivers to someone who can no longer manage their own care alone, at home.

When a life-threatening illness befalls us, there are so many questions that cry out for answers so that we can continue on, somehow, after the diagnosis.

What will follow this diagnosis? What treatments will I need? Will I be able to cope with it? Can I get groceries? How will I get to my doctor’s appointments?

These questions address the real fears that often come hand in hand with a life threatening diagnosis.

Mary Trainor, a resident of western Ottawa, is one such Friends of Hospice Ottawa Hero who was recognized by CCAC. Mary has been the primary care-giver to her mother for many years since Mum was diagnosed with a serious illness. Mary’s tireless care has enabled her mother to continue to live comfortably in her own home, instead of in a residence, knowing that a loving, caring hand is never far away.

Mary, and people like her, are the answers to those desperate initial questions “after the diagnosis”, and the ones who allay the fears. Friends of Hospice Ottawa and our dedicated team of professionally trained volunteers work in the community everyday to complement the assistance provided by CCAC, to bring much needed comfort to those living at home with serious illnesses.

And we work, too, with these Heroes in the Home everyday to help relieve their burdens, and to alleviate some of their own fears and the workload when it sometimes appears to be too much to bear. Mary, our Hero, was one of six Friends of Hospice Ottawa Heroes recognized during this ceremony.  Mary is also one of our regular volunteers in the community, bringing her energy into other people’s lives, as well.

If you are living with a life-threatening illness and live in a community in Ottawa west including: Ashton, Bells Corners, Carp, Dunrobin, Fitzroy Harbour, Kanata, Kars, Kinburn, Manotick, Munster, Nepean, North Gower, Richmond, Stittsville, Woodlawn and surrounding rural areas, perhaps you, too, need a Hero in your home. Friends of Hospice can help. Please contact our office at (613) 838-4008, or visit our website at www.friendsofhospiceottawa.ca