Colchester East Hants Hospice Society was founded in 2004 as a grassroots effort to support families facing life threatening illness, death and grieving the loss of their loved one. The organization, led by a committed Board of Directors, has very successfully developed and launched programs and services in line with the mission and mandate.

Hospice Is…

Hospice is a building, a belief and an approach. It focuses on improving the quality of living and quality of dying of people and their families when facing, serious illness, death and grief. In Colchester East Hants, Hospice-Palliative Care strives to provide physical, psychological, social, spiritual and practical support. Hospice is a registered charity and 100% of our fundraising activity supports programs throughout our community.

Hospice Will

• partner with palliative care and other community resources
• be client driven
• focus on key activities
• be accessible throughout Colchester & East Hants
• be leaders in End of Life in Nova Scotia
• be sustainable

Our Values

• We value the needs and wants as identified by the people we serve.
• We appreciate the value of life and the natural process of death.
• We recognize the need to address people and their families’ suffering, expectations, needs, hopes and fears while facing serious illness, death and grief.
• We believe that all services need to be inclusive of the community and not limited by spiritual beliefs, gender, race or age.
• We believe care is provided when the person and/or family is willing to accept it.
• We believe that quality of life is defined by each person with which we work.
• We believe that all relationships with other people (people requiring service, partners, colleagues) need to be based on respect and dignity for each other.
• We believe that all people with whom we work have the right to privacy and confidentiality.
• We believe that in developing healthy skills and attitudes to support those people dying in our communities, our communities will become stronger.

Our Guiding Principals

• Client/Family Focused: Responsive to the people we serve.
• High Quality: Clearly defined standards of practice, integrity, respect and compassion.
• Safe and Effective: Clear policies and procedures to maintain safety and confidentiality all people.
• Accessible: Services not limited by geography, age, gender, race or spiritual beliefs.
• Adequately Resourced: People, funding, information, space, equipment available to meet the needs of the community.
• Collaborative: Working together as a group and with community resources/partners.
• Knowledge Based: People with have the information they need (staff, volunteers, people we serve).
• Advocacy Based: Ongoing advocacy for quality services locally and provincially.
• Research based: Practice is based on evidence and responsive to new knowledge.