A Purposeful End

Bowen Island Undercurrent
Published: June 24, 2013 12:00 PM

Despite the advances in drug treatment and exemplary practices in western society, palliative and hospice care remains a mystery to most, often viewed with fear and apprehension by both the general public and health care professionals as a place of abandonment and hopelessness.

Faces of Palliative Care challenges these preconceptions of the end of life experience and illustrates a changing world of palliative care through a series of personal stories about the collaboration between families, caregivers, and those suffering with a life limiting illness. It answers questions about how palliative differs from other areas of medicine, how it is delivered and how patients can access end of life care.

Bowen Island resident, Dr. Patricia Boston, clinical professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia, and Douglas Nicolle, head of Telehealth and Media Services for St. Paul’s Hospital, Providence Health Care, co-produced the documentary for the UBC Faculty of Medicine. Faces of Palliative Care provides a definitive look at current palliative care practices in British Columbia.

“Palliative care programs can give a purposeful end of life to those faced with life-limiting illness. Faces of Palliative Care examines the current and exemplary palliative care practice available to assist patients and their families in achieving comfortable and meaningful end of life experiences when circumstances set end of life decisions in motion,” explains Dr. Patricia Boston.

Two years in production, the video was shot in various facilities in and around Metro Vancouver, like the Vancouver General Hospital, Marion Hospice, Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, Richmond Hospital Palliative Care Unit and The Rotary Salvation Army Hospice in Richmond.

Faces of Palliative Care will be aired on BC CBC on June 29 at 7 p.m. as part of the Absolutely Vancouver summer series of documentaries.

See the 3 minute promo video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbyW5dvQe1Y&feature=youtu.be

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