Bishops launch new palliative care toolkit

Canada’s bishops have developed a new palliative care toolkit to educate and empower caregivers and those facing a terminal illness.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Horizons of Hope Palliative Care online toolkit was launched Nov. 15. Educating and empowering caregivers, persons with terminal illness, family members supporting a terminally ill loved one, as well as anyone curious about palliative care and Catholic end-of-life doctrine is the primary aim of this new online resource.

Support is presented over four learning modules. The themes covered are understanding the human experience of dying and death, discerning and making decisions at the end of life, accompanying those on the journey and supporting and integrating within the wider community.

Each module page features two videos. One short film tackles the topic from a medical perspective, while the other explores ethical and theological teachings.

Jonathan Lesarge, the CCCB’s government and public relations advisor, said the toolkit was spawned soon after the Joint Ad Hoc Committee on Palliative Care was formed in 2017.

“Palliative care education in both Canadian society at large and in the Catholic community in Canada has been identified as a dire need,” wrote Lesarge. “For generations, Catholic dioceses and religious orders in Canada have been major contributors to the development and delivery of health-care services and formation.”

Lesarge adds that the grand vision is for parishes to take charge and facilitate discussions from a Catholic theological viewpoint. The kits are available at cccb.ca.