Hospice Peterborough

At this time of year, enjoying the holidays can feel difficult if you are grieving. You may even feel guilty for being joyful (even if it is fleeting) because joy and grief are often treated as opposite emotions that should not meet. After someone has died, it is important to be able to acknowledge pain and sadness during special occasions – to be able to integrate honouring the person into a time you may have typically enjoyed and looked forward to.

Each year Hospice supports clients and community members to honour the death of someone they are connected, to  by lighting a tree and inviting people to remember by writing a message or the name of the person who died on a paper dove and attaching it to the tree. The template for the dove is available here and you are welcome to print a dove and drop it by Hospice or to print doves for use in your own home over the holidays.

Here are some resources recommended by Hospice staff that you may find helpful at this time:

• Hospice Peterborough’s informational booklet Getting Through the Holidays with Grief
• A story on how one person found new meaning in the holidays
• The Canadian resource mygrief.ca
• Coping with Holidays and Family Celebrations by Helen Fitzgerald
• Helping Yourself Heal During the Holiday Season by Alan D. Wolfelt

At the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards on October 17th, 2018, the Hospice Peterborough team heard our name called as the winner for the Not-for-Profit category. We were honoured to have been nominated alongside the Canadian Canoe Museum and the YWCA Peterborough-Haliburton, and to win takes our breath away.  

Shelley Barrie, President of the Hospice Peterborough Board of Directors, accepted the award for Not-for-Profit Excellence on behalf of Executive Director, Linda Sunderland, saying,

“We are in the middle of a transformation at Hospice Peterborough which will see us expand our services to include 24/7 end-of-life care in our stunning new Care Centre, at the corner of London and Reid streets. I look out in the room tonight and see so many who have invested their time, advice, support expertise, and made significant donations to bring this project to life.”

Thank you to the Chamber of Commerce and our category sponsor, Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough for this privilege. And thank you to our community. Without the support of our donors, sponsors and volunteers, our mission to provide care for those facing life-threatening illness and grief would not be possible.

“Together we are building our community’s hospice – this award is for you!”- Shelley Barrie, President, Board of Directors, Hospice Peterborough