By Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Catholic Saskatoon News
Some 100 participants gathered Nov. 9 in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon for a Compassionate Community Care workshop about providing grassroots care and connection for those who are isolated or suffering.
Organized by Jackie Saretsky, Coordinator of the diocesan Hospital Chaplaincy Office, in response to requests for support for those who wish to visit the sick, isolated, or home-bound in the community, the “Being With” workshop stressed the importance of personal connection in fostering hope and meaning.
Facilitators were Kathy Matusiak-Costa, Director of Compassionate Community Care (CCC), a registered charity of health care professionals and volunteers who provide support to vulnerable persons and their families during times of illness and crisis, and Alex Schadenberg, the Executive Director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition.
Both stressed the vital importance of reducing social isolation and loneliness through simple human connections at the grass-roots level: in families, neighbourhoods, parishes and the wider community.
They cited studies showing that the lack of social relationships is as large a factor for mortality as smoking, obesity or a lack of physical activity. Loneliness is an “epidemic” that can be addressed through human care and interaction.
Visiting, journeying with, being with, and caring for others can affirm a person’s reason for living and help them find a way through depression and isolation, as well as allaying their fear of suffering — all of which are reasons that an increasing number are requesting medically-assisted death, said Schadenberg.
Throughout the workshop, facilitators provided practical advice for visiting, communicating, and advocating, as well as exploring how to respond to issues that might arise while visiting,
For more information about CCC or Horizons of Hope palliative care workshops in the diocese of Saskatoon, contact Hospital Chaplaincy coordinator Jackie Saretsky at jsaretsky@rcdos.ca or (306) 659-5839.
