What would you do if you had only eight days?

One family made the most of eight days of life, with a dear child, here with us at Emily’s House children’s hospice….

The grandpa wanted his granddaughter to experience putting her toes in the sand.  So, he went down to the lake, released a flower on the water, and collected a cup of sand from the local beach to bring back to her at Emily’s House, and his brand-new grandchild had a chance to experience sand on her feet.

Her dad’s dream was to watch a hockey game with his daughter.  During her eight days, Dad and his baby girl, wearing their official team jerseys, climbed into a comfy chair in front of a big-screen T.V., and watched an entire game together.  And, knowing that he will not have a chance to share a first dance with his daughter on her wedding day, he sang to her, and they had their first dance in the family room at Emily’s House.

The entire family – baby girl, mom and dad, and both sets of grandparents – had only eight days together.  And, supported by our Emily’s House team, they did all they could to make every moment count for those eight short days.

The intention of all the Philip Aziz Centre for Hospice Care (PAC) and Emily’s House children’s hospice programs and supports is to make the most of the moments available.  As one client in the community wrote: “The Philip Aziz Centre, through their volunteer/buddy program, have made my life so much easier.” A client’s partner wrote about PAC and the PAC volunteer program: “They give me such a relief knowing I can go out and about, even for just a few hours, knowing that Richard is with his ‘friend’ who is taking care of him.” And, from her family’s experience at Emily’s House, a mom shared: “These are memories that we will never forget, and ones that mean more to us than you will ever know.”

Your donation will immediately impact clients and families, through hospice programs and supports. The Ministry of Health and Ontario Health (formerly Toronto LHIN) provide approximately 50% of the annual funds needed to maintain our in hospice, in home and in transition palliative care supports. The balance of funds – for life giving therapies, recreational programs, counselling and volunteers – must be raised annually with the support of donors, like you. Your generosity can help:

• Provide 24/7 clinical/nursing care, symptom management, and medical necessities in a home-like environment, while increasing quality-of-life through play/art/music therapy, recreation and fun excursions fit for a child’s unique needs; 
• Train, equip, match and introduce specially-trained volunteers to work with a child with a life-limiting illness, a palliative individual in their own home, or a caregiver in need of respite; or,
• Provide counselling, bereavement or peer group supports for individuals, siblings, parents and caregivers.

Please donate today.  Make miracles out of minutes for children and adults with a life-threatening illness.  Your donation will translate into the equivalent of:

• $25 – one hour of Music / Art Therapy or Recreation Programming for a child or youth. Really, this is a gift of joy!
• $50 – towards a community outing (i.e., movie or excursion fees plus wheelchair accessible transportation).
• $300 – train one new hospice volunteer to provide compassionate care, companionship and play.
• $1,000 – A Day of Care at Emily’s House children’s hospice (24 hours of clinical nursing and recreational therapies).
• Other – to be directed where the need is greatest.

Philip Aziz Centre for Hospice Care and Emily’s House children’s hospice provide respite, medical respite, practical, psychosocial, spiritual, bereavement, therapeutic / recreation support to adults, children and families living with life-threatening illnesses in the comfort of their own home, or in Toronto’s first paediatric residential hospice. Our programs support children, child siblings, adults, caregivers, and entire families at no cost to them. 

Given eight days, or an abundance of days, every day is a precious gift.  One invaluable contribution you can make today, is to help provide compassionate hospice supports for those in need, here in your community.  With your help, we can make the most of the moments available. – "When there is no cure, there is still compassion and care.... There is hospice."

For more information, stories/videos, or updates, please visit:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhilipAzizCentre/

Twitter: @PAChospice_care

Instagram: Emilyshousetoronto

https://paceh.ca/

Find Out More About This Charity Emily's House, is an Operating Division of the Philip Aziz Centre for Hospice Care 558 Gerrard Street East Toronto, ON  M4M 1X8 jenniferk@philipazizcentre.ca Visit our Web Site: https://paceh.ca/ Charitable Registration #BN89422 8063 RR0001

Emily’s House is Toronto’s first pediatric residential hospice, and an operating division of the Philip Aziz Centre for Hospice Care. 

When there is no cure – someone needs to help these children and their families feel as supported as possible during their last weeks, months or days together. Not only are we providing care, we are helping to keep families together. We are championing health care, family services, and children:  their right to health, well-being and quality of life to the very end of life. 

Emily’s House provides a range of client-centred programs and services for children with a life-limiting illness in a home-like environment, as well as supports for their caregivers and siblings. We have been the home-away-from-home, for example, for an extended family of 20 people who gathered at Emily’s House and were happy to sit together, eat together, and support one another during a child’s final days.  We also have school buses dropping off siblings of kids in our residential care here, who arrive in the late afternoon ready to play with their brother or sister.  Our Child Life /Recreation Coordinators also develop daily activities to actively engage the kids, and to give them the chance to be kids.

A care plan is developed with parents and child prior to or at admission that includes appropriate 24/7 medical supports, as well as activities to meet each individual child’s needs. The cost to provide one day (24 hours) of care for one child is $1,108.  No costs are passed on to the families, and approximately 50 cents on the dollar are subsidized by government sources (based on our overall operating budget).

Care is completely customized to the needs of the child and preferences of the family, and can incorporate a “circle of care” that includes up to 30 resource people, including doctors and medical teams; nurses and clinical nurse practitioners; personal support workers; music/art therapists; child life /recreation coordinators; designated hospice volunteers; and grief, bereavement or spiritual care counsellors. 

With your support, we can help children and their families make memories out of minutes, and miracles out of days.