A grassroots movement, started by health-care staff, is allowing patients at Covenant Care Foyer Lacombe hospice in St. Albert to have a special moment granted.
What started with a patient’s request for a baptism in a tub has blossomed into a full-fledged initiative known as the Last Wish program — an effort to honour the final dreams of hospice residents, no matter how big or small.
Registered nurse Fate Hurtada and chaplain Matthieu Coulombe were instrumental in the creation of the program.
“It brings dignity back into health-care,” Coulombe told Global News.
“This gives them back that power to choose what they want.”
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“The Last Wish program gives them the opportunity to re-engage in something that brings them joy and meaning and purpose,” Coulombe said.
The program has brought life into the hospice home and staff say morale has improved exponentially since it started.
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“It motivates us, it elevates us and it makes us have a sense of self,” said Bee Schnepf, a health-care aide at Foyer Lacombe.
Schnepf has become one of the program’s biggest champions.
“When we did that first baptism, everything changed for me,” Schnepf said. “It makes them feel a little bit more alive because when they come here, it’s like this isn’t the final straw for them.”
Some of the wishes take more effort, like a helicopter ride or a country music concert.
Others are more simple: animal visits, a liver and onion meal, or ear piercings.
The wishes requested at the 10-room hospice are as unique as each individual patient.
“The one thing that I love is learning about (the patients),” health-care aide Angelica Duncan said.
“There’s so many different walks of life, so many different stories, and upbringings.”
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Every single one of the wishes involves the community in one way or another.
When a patient decides, a call goes out on social media — Coulombe said the response has been overwhelming.
“It takes a village when kids are coming into the world, and I think as people are leaving the world it takes that village again.”
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Coulombe said it also takes away the mystery that often surrounds palliative care facilities.
“The last wish involves the community, where they get to realize that hospice — it is yes about dying, but it’s also about living,” he said.
For John Wintersgill, a patient with terminal Stage 4 cancer, the program is a cherry on top of the care he’s received at Foyer Lacombe.
“The staff here are just angels, every one of them,” Wintersgill said.
“You can’t get closer to heaven than we are and still be below the clouds.”
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Wintersgill took his time deciding what he wanted for his wish. He said he’s already done a lot of things in life.
His wish is simple and will carry on long after he leaves this earth.
“It just hit me one day,” he said. “We’ll have that piano tuned. Everybody wins.”
The grand piano in question has seen better days. Wintersgill wish to have it tuned and fixed up will be granted on Saturday July 26, when his friends and family will gather to hear his daughter play his favourite piece, Für Elise.
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A woodworker, he’s also happy to know the scratches on the Foyer Lacombe piano will also be buffed out for the performance.
“Thank you isn’t anywhere near enough,” he said when asked what he would tell those who run the program.
“I feel so blessed to be here at this point in my life. You couldn’t ask for more,” Wintersgill said.
The wishes are each designed to create lasting memories for the patients and their families, and remind residents they are not forgotten in their final days.
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Many staff note a pattern — after a resident’s wish is fulfilled, they often die soon after. Rather than sorrow, however, there’s often a deep sense of peace.
“I find that before the wish they’re really excited, they’re antsy,” said Schnepf.
“After the wish, it’s almost like they’re complete and then they usually end up passing a few days later.”
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Though small, the Last Wish program is gaining attention. The team is preparing to present the initiative at a palliative care conference this fall, hoping to inspire other hospices to adopt similar programs.
“Whatever we have, take it,” Coulombe said. “ Maybe others will improve on it. Maybe others think of something we haven’t thought about.
“It’s about spreading this idea of dignity within life.”
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The program also receives financial support through the Covenant Foundation, which helps fund aspects of wishes that can’t be met through community donations.
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