On Sept. 17, health editor Caroline Alphonso and national health reporter Alanna Smith answered reader questions on what health care volunteers are doing across the country, and how the Canadian system can better care for its patients.
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system → answer → patients
Over the summer, we featured the stories of volunteers in Canadian health care in our Care Between the Lines series.
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we → feature → series
From a non-profit organization in Saskatchewan that drives locals to their medical appointments, stylists giving free haircuts in a Charlottetown hospital, cyclists taking seniors out for outdoor excursions and many more stories, the series celebrated these volunteers while highlighting the gaps in a system that can feel isolating for patients.
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that → drive → patients
Readers asked how these volunteers got involved, what they can do for their own communities and how the clinics and hospitals can better care for their patients.
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clinics → ask → patients
Here are some highlights from the Q&A.
Care Between the Lines
How did this series come to be?
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come → come → Lines
What has stuck out to you about these stories?
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What → stick → stories
Kristy Kirkup had written a lovely piece around the Christmas holidays on a woman who volunteered her time in an infant cuddling program at St. Michael’s Hospital.
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who → write → Hospital
That sparked the series idea.
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That → spark → idea
We wanted to tell stories of volunteers who showed kindness during what can be a scary and isolating time, while also showcasing some of the gaps in the health care system.
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what → want → system
I have loved assigning and editing this series.
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I → love → series
The news cycle can feel bleak at times.
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cycle → feel → times
I was moved by the story featuring Nanette Godbout and the work she did sitting beside dying patients who didn’t have family and friends nearby.
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who → move → family
What prompted you to look for a volunteer in the area of end-of-life care?
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What → prompt → care
This volunteer role was first brought to my attention by someone working in Alberta’s health care system and it immediately sparked my interest.
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it → bring → interest
Death is still very much a taboo topic and I thought that bringing this important work to light would encourage difficult but important conversations.
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bringing → think → conversations
It looks like most of the volunteers in these stories are retirees.
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most → look → stories
It’s true that many of the volunteers we featured were retirees.
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we → ’ → volunteers
Many of them have more free time after leaving their careers and perhaps want to maintain a sense of purpose and connection.
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Many → have → purpose
I loved reading about the woman who made finger puppets at Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston, Ontario.
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who → love → Alliston
However, there are many younger people who also spend time volunteering in the health care sector, and I know they are warmly welcomed by patients and health care staff.
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they → be → patients
In one story, you wrote that the number of volunteers in the hospital sector has dropped in recent years.
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number → write → years
What’s the reason for the decline and what can we do about it?
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we → ’ → it
I asked health science reporter Jennifer Yang about this, as she touched on it in her piece.
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she → ask → piece
I posed this exact question to Michelle Nelson, a professor with the University of Ottawa who studies volunteers in health care.
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who → pose → care
Dr. Nelson said that this trend is something researchers are still trying to better understand, but the COVID-19 pandemic definitely had an impact.
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pandemic → say → impact
Many volunteer programs shut down in the early months and years of COVID-19 – and many volunteers just didn’t return in the aftermath.
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volunteers → shut → aftermath
Hospital volunteers tend to be older adults and many didn’t feel safe returning to a hospital environment.
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many → tend → environment
Volunteer programs that were shuttered also had to be rebuilt, with new volunteers recruited and retrained.
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volunteers → shutter → ?
But Dr. Nelson pointed out that there could be something happening specifically around women, who make up the bulk of volunteers within hospitals.
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who → point → hospitals
The impacts of COVID-19 were gendered, and women disproportionately shouldered a lot of the unpaid caregiving work that was needed during peak-pandemic years.
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that → gendere → years
This made it a lot harder for women to shift back to their volunteer commitments even after the pandemic eased up.
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pandemic → make → commitments
The current economic environment and job market is perhaps making it more difficult for people to volunteer their time.
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people → make → time
Caregiving demands and pressures remain high, especially for women.
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demands → remain → women
There are also differences in how younger people volunteer; they tend to give their time more episodically, whereas hospital volunteer programs often require volunteers who can commit to regular hours.
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who → be → hours
The series has made me wonder how I can get involved in my own community.
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I → make → community
But how can I find where my efforts will be most needed?
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efforts → find → ?
People who spoke to me for this series came to volunteering in different ways.
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who → speak → ways
In Saskatchewan, locals in the community of Gravelbourg created their own volunteer-led transportation network to help residents get to medical appointments after a provincial bus service shut down.
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service → create → appointments
Another volunteer we profiled in Alberta contacted a nearby hospital directly to offer her artistic talents to decorate radiation masks.
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we → profile → masks
But I recommend starting your search by visiting the websites of local health organizations, regional health bodies and/or provincial authorities.
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I → recommend → organizations
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
