In 2014, a nurse in Stratford, Ontario named Jodi Taylor spent most of her time palliating her mother. During the process, she realized how badly the community needed a palliative care home. After years of developing, in 2019, the Rotary Hospice was up and running and ready to accept clients. They have been able to provide beds to 8 residents at a time and give them the care they need to pass away comfortably.
“We are now operating a full 8 bed hospice and we have 10 rooms because our population is aging and I’m sure in the not-near future we will be funded for 10 beds instead of 8” says Jodi.
Jodi assumes her role as the direct support volunteer where she is in direct contact with the families as well as a reception role when needed, but things changed when the pandemic hit.
“Within the hospice, we started screening everybody when they came in, temperature checks and unfortunately we had to limit the number of visitors per client”.
Jodi however is a nurse, and therefore was called to the frontlines.
“My personal role had to change, I’m sad to say, because I am a critical care nurse in the frontlines and I felt it was best to step back and keep my focus within the hospital”.
Jodi also said that she deeply misses the hospice and wants to get back to helping as soon as possible. As she is still a member and representative of the organization, Jodi urged people to help out.
“In order to keep our hospice up and running we need anywhere between 150-200 volunteers. People sometimes are afraid because they don’t feel comfortable to sit and speak with a dying patient but there’s so many ways they can help”.
If you want to reach out and help the Rotary Hospice in Stratford, you can call them at (519) 508-4900 (ext. 730)
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