At GP Care Society – We Care
GPPCS works with other agencies, local businesses and community members to establish a compassionate community that promotes living well by supporting others through care giving, dying and grieving.
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative Care is specialized client-centered end-of-life care. It aims to relieve suffering and improve the quality of living and dying. Palliative Care supports people living with life-threatening illnesses. It provides care for patients and their loved ones to meet each individual’s
- Medical needs
- Psychological needs
- Social needs
- Spiritual needs
- Practical needs
Where is Care Provided?
Palliative care considers that dying is an important part of living and that it is essential to manage pain and other symptoms effectively so that those facing death, and their loved ones, can devote their energies not to fighting physical discomfort, but to embrace the time they have left together.
Want to learn more about a Hospice near you?
Would you like to book a tour?
Recently diagnosed with a life-limiting illness?
GPPCS is here to help you along the way. We have collected and developed resources and work closely with other organization to ensure you are aware of what is available to you, and your loved ones. Below are some common questions people ask with a link to help you get started with answers. Please know that at if you have a question that is not in this list that you are encouraged to contact us directly so we can help you find the information you are seeking.
What will you experience with your care? Your Prognosis? Your feelings?
How to start a conversation with your family about your wishes?
What is Advance Care Planning and why should this matter to you?
Advance Care Planning Toolkit
Where can you find supports and resources for yourself and your loved ones? email us today.
Family and Caregiver Resources
When you care for a loved one with an advanced illness you are doing a remarkable thing, but you are taking on a challenging role. We are here to help you. We will provide you with information, resources, encouragement, and emotional support to give you the information you need to provide care.
Self-Care guide for Family and Caregivers
How do I talk to my loved ones about their final wishes?
What is compassion fatigue and how do I know if I have it?
Volunteers
Volunteers are an integral part of the palliative care journey. They can help from time of diagnosis through to grief and loss. Grande Prairie Palliative Care Society has a variety of volunteer programs to help clients and families.
Want to learn more about the volunteer programs we offer?
What is a Nav-Care Volunteer?
What is a Virtual Care Volunteer?
Want to learn more about what volunteers can do for you and your family?
Grief Resources
Grief is a normal human reaction to loss. Suffering the loss of a loved one can feel unbearable and hopeless. We work with our community to help you through this difficult time.
A guide to help you cope with the death of a loved one.
Online resources
Contact us for local resources and upcoming workshops
Events/Workshops
Grande Prairie Palliative Care Society hosts a multitude of educational events and workshops to help support all aspects of palliative care including:
Education for the healthcare professionals
Volunteer training Level 1 and Nav-Care
Self-care and Compassion fatigue workshops
Grief and Bereavement workshops
Sponsors/Funding
Grande Prairie Palliative Care Society is a small grass roots not-for-profit that relies on community sponsors, event fundraisers, grants and individual donations to help support our palliative care community.
Donations help in many ways:
- Develop and deliver new programs and supports to help you feel connected.
- Coordination and implementation of volunteer programs both in community and in facility
- Specialized palliative care education for healthcare professionals, caregivers, volunteers and you
- Awareness of palliative care supports, services and resources available to you
- Grief and Caregiver Supports for both the healthcare professional, the volunteer and you
- Equipment and furnishings for Prairie Lakes Hospice to provide comfort and a home-like environment
- Bursaries for palliative care education and betterment for healthcare professionals, caregivers, volunteers and you.
- One-time emergency funding for palliative care families in crisis by referral
News
What is happening in our world.
February Death Cafe
We are inviting you to attend February's Death Cafe! A chat about life's end over coffee and cake doesn't sound like everyone's cup of tea. But could it be a way to get people talking about a subject we can't escape and is often avoided? I told some friends that I was...
Companioning Thru Grief
Covid-19 has filled our lives with isolation, anxiety and fear. No social gatherings, no hugs and our smiles are hidden behind masks. All of this is compounded when someone is grieving. We have partnered with Marianne Hartman and Marc Moncrieff to create Companioning...
January Death Cafe
What on earth is a death café?
A chat about life’s end over coffee and cake doesn’t sound like everyone’s cup of tea. But could it be a way to get people talking about a subject we can’t escape and is often avoided?
I told some friends that I was going to something called a death café – the reactions were mixed, but none was particularly positive. “Will it be full of goths?”, “How morbid”, “That’s weird.” The thing is that people don’t just find talking about death uncomfortable – they find the idea of talking about death uncomfortable. In general, we just don’t do it.
This is what inspired Jon Underwood to create the non-profit death café in 2011, based on the Swiss Café Mortel movement. As he saw it, western society has long outsourced discussions about death to doctors, nurses, priests and undertakers. The result, says Jon, is that we have lost control of one of the most significant events we ever have to face.
He suggested to various cafes in east London his idea of setting up a place to go and talk about death, but there were no takers. So the first death café in the UK was in Jon’s own house in Hackney and was run by his mother, Sue Barsky Reid, a psychotherapist.
It was a great success and interest grew, leading to the events, which are usually about an hour long, popping up in a range of venues from cafes and private houses to a cemetery and a yurt. The premise was simple: people go along, drink tea, eat cake and discuss death: not to be morbid, just to raise awareness and to “help people make the most of their (finite) lives”.
link to complete article: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/22/death-cafe-talk-about-dying
Come join our local Death Café on Wednesday and see what it is all about!
Virtual Pen Pal Program 2020
GPPCS started our Virtual Pen Pal Program on Mar 17th, in hopes to support palliative clients for 2 weeks while attempting to flatten the Covid-19 curve. Well, 42 weeks later we are still in isolation & our Volunteer Pen Pal Program is going strong! Letters are...
2020 Memory Tree
HELP US FILL OUR 2020 Memory Tree WITH LOVE AND MEMORIES! Here's how to participate: Post in comments below or email hope@gpcare with your memory to add to the tree! Volunteers will copy your memories onto cards & hang them on the tree Watch the memories grow as...
Companioning Thru Grief
What if...On December 1st, we all teamed up to ensure our community has access to FREE individualized grief supports in our area. Together, we can! On December 1st, we are asking you to give a few dollars in support of our $5000 goal. You can help launch this new...
About Us
At Grande Prairie Palliative Care Society, our mission is to establish and maintain expert end-of-life care for community members with a terminal illness and to provide support for their families.
- We are a voice for the community
- We are an ear to public need
- We are a hand in action
Grande Prairie Palliative Care Society advocates for, and is the connection in the community for end-life-care.
Thank You to our Sponsors
Grande Prairie Palliative Care Society is the connection and advocates in the community for end-life-care. We support multiple programs and community events to raise awareness.
Core Funders
Your
Logo Could Go
Here
Your
Logo Could Go
Here
Your
Logo Could Go
Here
Your
Logo Could Go
Here
Supporters
Your
Logo Could Go
Here
Your
Logo Could Go
Here
Your
Logo Could Go
Here
Past Supporters
If you would like to know more about becoming a funder or supporter for Grande Prairie Palliative Care Society please contact us.