Kensington Hospice
Yesterday, I spent the morning with the new staff of The Kensington Hospice Home. It was their third day of orientation.
The Hospice is a ten bed facility housed in a restored church building on the Kensington campus. I toured the facility in the morning with Bill O'Neill. Bill is the General Manager of the Kensington Health Center, a long-term care home in the heart of Toronto's downtown.
The new building is a beauty. Great care has gone into designing a space that is esthetically pleasing and highly functional.
The Kensington Hospice is a joint effort with the Princess Margaret Hospital's Paliative Care Unit. Twenty staff have been hired to provide end-of-life care to residents. They are a delightful group of RN's, RPN's and Social Workers.
Our theme for the morning session was "Beginning Well, Ending Well," cross cultural practices of respect that support dignity and grace in relationships. Respect is the experience of being valued. That quality is important in delivering services where care is focused on comfort versus curing. It's also important to organizational culture and team effectiveness.
Our morning session was also an opportunity for the staff to get to know their co-workers, an opportunity that they embraced with enthusiasm.
It was an honor to be a part of the launch of such an important community resource. It was also gratifying to know the level of care that will be provided, evidenced by the able staff that has been assembled by Kensington Hospice.
End-of-life services in Toronto have gone to another level of compassonate care through the introduction of the Kensington Hospice Home.
© Patrick O’Neill 2011. All rights reserved.