We get asked quite often and fine ourselves having conversations daily with people about what to expect when you come to Jessica’s House.  It is an overwhelming decision to make.  Recognizing that death is near but also wanting to continue to live.  I have by asked, “How do you live with death around you”?  My reply is that I am surrounding myself with people whom are living and the time will come when they die but this is a moment in time.  Residential hospice is a place for family and friends to be to be together to reminisce and talk about memories of the present.  Our hope at Jessica’s House is that family and friends are able to have a experience in which  they remember the joys of their loved one that has died.

Coming to Residential Hospice is a choice and a difficult one.  We are no longer treating or curing disease but instead providing relief of signs and symptoms that your body and mind are having.  A residential hospice is a home-like environment where adults and children with life-threatening illnesses receive end-of-life services.  Hospice care begins after treatment of the disease is stopped and when it is clear that the person is not going to survive the illness.

Did you know that November 19th is National Bereavement Day in Canada?  The Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association’s theme for this year is “Coping with grief, together through living and grieving”.  According to the palliative care association we are so focused on prolonging life that we do not think about what happens end of our journey.  Please give yourself time to grieve, to remember and to heal.  We all handle grief in different way and please tell your stories and let others tell their stories.