Palliative care provides options Palliative care provides options By Kevin Weedmark Palliative care has always been around to some extent, Diane McDougall says, but it's only recently that an organized Palliative Care Committee has been established in Moosomin. Palliative care is the final stage of health care, for people who are suffering from terminal illnesses.
Palliative care begins at the point when the focus of care shifts from cure to comfort.
The purpose is to help people with terminal illnesses spend the last stages of their lives as comfortably as possible. In Moosomin, Palliative Care was introduced after Faye McKinnon stopped in Brooks, Alta. to look at the palliative care rooms in the hospital there, and brought the idea back to Moosomin. She and Bonnie Dearle got the ball rolling in the fall of 1993, and the first Sparkle of Life campaign was held that Christmas. McDougall, case manager of Pipestone Home Care, meanwhile, was developing support structures for people who decide to spend their final time at home, and for the families. The community palliative care committee works to raise funds, and to educate people on their options.