LAKELAND – During an Aug. 29 news conference at the University of Calgary, the Government of Alberta announced that it is distributing a total of $11.3 million in grant funding to 25 projects across the province to improve palliative and end-of-life care.
The grant includes over $4 million for projects to expand community supports and services, over $4 million toward ten projects for training and education, around $2 million for projects aiming to provide earlier access to palliative and end-of-life care, and over $1 million for three research and innovation projects.
Age Friendly Cold Lake Society
Most grant beneficiaries are located in urban areas of the province, although one is located within the Lakeland region. Among the beneficiaries include the Age Friendly Cold Lake Society in the City of Cold Lake. The volunteer-driven, non-profit society is using the grant for its Cold Lake Palliative Care Community Partnership project.
According to the Government of Alberta's website, the society’s project “will expand the Palliative and End of Life Care Alberta Provincial Framework (PEOLC) philosophy and integrated approach to care with area health care providers, community partners and others to enable PEOLC clients to remain in their homes and communities.”
Cathy Aust, the Society’s Manager and Program Development, said the grant will translate to training opportunities for volunteers and educate people about the difference between palliative care and end-of-life care.
“A lot of people think that palliative care means end-of-life [care] and it doesn't - it means that you've been diagnosed with a life changing [illness] which could be a heart attack or something that you may recover from,” said Aust. She clarified that palliative care is medical care for people living with chronic diseases or serious illnesses while end-of-life care is medical care for people at their end of life.
For the training component, Aust said the grant will help with training volunteers to work with palliative clients in their home.
“This is going to have a high impact in our community and we’re hoping that we’re able to make lives a little bit easier and get people connected to the services that they need and require in our community,” said Aust. She also said the Age Friendly Cold Lake Society is linked with the Alzheimer’s Society in Edmonton and Caregivers Alberta.
The Society serves the City of Cold Lake, and Wards 5 and 6 of the MD of Bonnyville.
Palliative and end-of-life care essential to Canada's health care
According to Alberta Health Minister Jason Copping during the news conference, providing care and comfort to people is essential to Canada’s health care. He added, “It [also] applies particularly to [patients] at the end of life when patients are at their most vulnerable, and when their family and friends are facing the loss of someone they love.”
Other grant beneficiaries include a U of C project studying early diagnosis of frailty and studying proper end-of-life care for patients suffering from frailty. Frailty increases the chance of experiencing “adverse health outcomes,” according to Dr. Jayna Holroyd-Leduc, academic geriatrician and professor at the Cumming School of Medicine. She also said frailty is presently underdiagnosed in long-term care.
“[Frailty] is increasing as the Canadian population ages,” said Holroyd-Leduc. “When diagnosed early, frailty is amenable to interventions to delay progression, and importantly to reduce symptom burden at the end of life.”
During the media question and answer, Copping also touched on the issue of staff shortages in health care when asked for comments on Danielle Smith’s suggestion of firing the Alberta Health Services (AHS) and College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (CPSA) boards during a UCP leadership forum. CPSA is the regulator of physicians in Alberta.
According to Copping, he recognizes that staff shortage is among the more significant issues in the province’s health care - particularly in rural areas.
“I can tell you I’m working very closely with the board of AHS and the CPSA on how to meet those challenges to make sure that we have the staff available to deliver health care services not only in Calgary and Edmonton but around the province,” he said.
Copping said among the key issues he is working on, alongside the CPSA, is speeding up the process of recognizing international medical graduates to acquire more physicians.
