Boots on the Ground

May 04, 2023

A Journey Home Program client

BY CHERIE KOK

Julie Diner is no stranger to working with the vulnerably housed. Over the past decade, she has been both a volunteer and a paid employee in this field, working with Shelter House Thunder Bay and Norwest Community Health Centres to make a difference for the vulnerably housed in our community.

I met Julie when Hospice Northwest was the first organization in Canada to deliver a curriculum from St. Elizabeth Health. The curriculum was designed to teach front line workers about the palliative approach to care in vulnerably housed communities. Julie was working at the Thunder Bay Shelter House at the time and she "just got it". She was a sponge soaking in all the knowledge and wanting to know more. She also found the training very impactful for the community and the staff that she was trying to serve. Julie opened our eyes to their reality and as a result helped St. Elizabeth Health and Hospice Northwest alter the curriculum to make it more applicable to those working within the shelter system.

Today, Julie is now a facilitator of the St Elizabeth's Curriculum for Hospice Northwest. Hospice Northwest delivers 2-3 of these workshops each year, which are open to any front line staff of any shelter. Since March 2019, Hospice Northwest has trained over 200 front line workers in a palliative approach to care.

But Julie's work with vulnerably housed clients with palliative diagnoses does not stop there!

Hospice Northwest supports and leads the Vulnerably Housed working group in Thunder Bay. Bi-monthly, a diverse group meets to discuss ways to assist people who are vulnerably housed and who would benefit from a palliative approach to care. The group includes two palliative care physicians, Nurse Practitioners, Thunder Bay District Health Unit Street Nurse, EMS, Palliative Carelink (Norwest CHC), the Regional Hospital palliative care nurse, CERAH, Regional Palliative Care Program, Home and Community Care and various shelter staff. Late in 2022, this group applied for and received a grant from Health Excellence Canada (https://www.healthcareexcellence.ca). The Thunder Bay group is one of 10 organizations across Canada to accept this money and to help develop BEST PRACTICES for the palliative care of vulnerably housed clients. This funding has been given to our committee to advance the work in Thunder Bay and further support these clients. The committee is working on a variety of projects with this funding. One activity that has already been started is the hiring of an Outreach worker who can be the "boots on the ground" - someone who can identify clients/patients who are under-housed and who may benefit from this palliative approach to care.

Guess who our outreach worker is? That's right, Julie Diner. Julie is employed through Norwest Community Health Centres, but partners with the Vulnerably Housed working group in being its eyes, ears, hands and HEART for the clients that we serve.

Julie has built up trust with these clients, which allows her to assist them in receiving the care they need, something they might not receive otherwise. If a vulnerably housed client walks into a healthcare facility, exhibiting any signs of addiction or mental health, they, at times, can be turned away. However, when they walk in with Julie, who will advocate for them, they are more apt to get the support and the treatment they need and are entitled to.

Julie also partners with Hospice Northwest's Journey Home team, which is a program aimed at providing compassionate care to clients with a life limiting illness who are vulnerably housed.

Julie is a rock star, but she cannot be in all places at all times. Julie communicates with Hospice Northwest to help our Journey Home volunteers offer support to clients by visiting with them in the hospital, or by taking them to appointments, in order for them to get the palliative approach to care that EVERYONE deserves.

Anyone interested in becoming a part of the Journey Home Team at Hospice Northwest or wanting to help this work in some way, please call Kimberley Ramsbottom at 807-626-5570 ex. 5571 today.

This monthly column from Hospice Northwest examines various aspects of palliative support and bereavement services. It appears on the Healthstyle page of The Chronicle-Journal on the first Tuesday of each month. Call Hospice Northwest at 626-5570 for more information.

If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor, click here.

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