Palliative Care Working Group
Looking for the Palliative Care Resource Guide? You can find it on the “Resources & Reports” page.
The Palliative Care Working Group brings together organizations, care providers, volunteers and community members from across the Kenora area who share a common goal: ensuring people living with serious or life-limiting illness have access to coordinated, compassionate care when and where they need it.
Working alongside the Northwest Regional Palliative Care program, the Working Group’s goal is to improve how palliative care is planned and delivered across the community, helping patients and families navigate available services while supporting better resources, communication and coordination between care providers.
Background
The Working Group grew out of the former Kenora Palliative Care Committee, a community-based group that had been working for many years to improve awareness, coordination and access to palliative care services.
As the All Nations Health Partners Ontario Health Team has evolved, partners recognized that many of the committee’s priorities aligned with the OHT’s focus on integrated, coordinated care. The committee transitioned into an ANHP Working Group, allowing the work to continue while bringing additional health system partners to the table.
Goals
The Palliative Care Working Group focuses on improving access to high-quality palliative care throughout the Kenora area by:
- improving coordination between organizations involved in palliative care;
- identifying gaps in services and opportunities for improvement;
- increasing awareness of palliative care services and available supports;
- promoting earlier conversations about advance care planning; and
- supporting consistent access to information and resources for patients, families and care providers.
Current Activities
Current priorities of the Working Group include:
- maintaining and updating the Kenora Area Palliative Care Resource Guide;
- supporting community education initiatives and public awareness events such as the Kenora Area Palliative Care Expo;
- sharing information and resources among partner organizations;
- identifying opportunities to improve access to palliative care services across the Kenora area; and
- supporting collaborative planning to better meet the needs of patients and families.
Representation
The Working Group includes representatives from organizations involved in delivering or supporting palliative care across the Kenora area, including:
- Primary care providers;
- Hospital services;
- Home and Community Care;
- Long-term care homes;
- Indigenous health organizations;
- The Northwest Regional Palliative Care program;
- Hospice and community support organizations;
- Physicians, nurses and allied health professionals with experience in palliative care, and
- Volunteers and community members.
By bringing these partners together, the Working Group helps ensure that palliative care services continue to serve local needs, and that patients and families know more about living well with life-changing illness.
Hospice Care
The Working Group is also leading a collaborative effort to establish a sustainable, community-based hospice in the Kenora region.
After two prior attempts to operationalize hospice services — initially at Pinecrest, and later through proposed facility acquisitions — the group recognized the need for a broader partnership model.
The working group brings together stakeholders from the healthcare sector, municipal government, Indigenous organizations, private sector and the charitable sector to explore viable options for a purpose-built hospice facility in the Kenora region — for which there is a significant need.
In addition to securing capital and operational funding, the group will be actively engaging in long-term planning and community consultation as it moves this work forward. It is now working to assess physical assets from previous hospice efforts, coordinate with the palliative care community, and explore alternative funding sources.
Lastly, the working group is committed to ensuring the hospice is inclusive and culturally responsive.
