BLOCK A: September 18 – 10:00am
A1 – Discharge from Hospice: Reasons, risk factors, challenges & opportunities
Discharge of a living patient affects the patient, family/caregivers, and care providers. Based on real-life cases, this presentation will explore the key drivers and highlight the concrete and psychosocial challenges of live discharges. Presenters will discuss those and other specific challenges of live discharge from hospice and provide a framework for understanding presented challenges and implications for policy and practice.
Stepan Bilynskyy, MB, MA(SDMP), MA(Bioethics & Health Policy), Spiritual Health Practitioner – Grace Health Campus
Amanda Montefusco, RSW, Health Services Manager – Grace Health Campus
A2 – Remembering Spirituality: Practicing somatic spiritual reminiscence with people with dementia
Spiritual Health Practitioners are often under-utilized by healthcare teams, frequently consulted only at end-of-life. Research shows that spiritual and religious practices increase well-being and improve quality of life, adding a sense of meaning and connection to our lives. Drawing on best-practices in dementia care and personal experiences, this presentation will challenge commonly held myths about spiritual care with people with dementia, and teach skills for facilitating meaningful emotional connections, whether in community or healthcare settings.
Melanie Kampen, PhD, Middlechurch Home of Winnipeg
A3 – Swallowing at the End-of-Life
Swallowing difficulties (dysphagia) are common at the end-of-life. These challenges can lead to malnutrition, dehydration and risk for choking and aspiration. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can assess and manage dysphagia and minimize these risks through evaluations, introducing strategies, and providing education to clients and families about anticipated outcomes. Ethical decisions around feeding and swallowing require balancing patient safety, comfort and quality of life. SLPs play a vital role in promoting patient autonomy and ensuring care is compassionate, patient centered and align with the individuals’ goals at the end of life.
Kelly Tye Vallis, RSLP, Speech-Language Pathologist – WRHA Long-Term Care Program
BLOCK B: September 18 – 11:15am
B1 – Introducing and Incorporating the Use of the Palliative Care Competency Framework
The Southern Health – Santé Sud Palliative Care Team participated in the Canadian Home Care Association SPRINT Implementation Collaborative which focused on implementing the National Palliative Care Competency Framework, emotional intelligence online learning courses, and conversation guides on palliative care emergencies in the home. This presentation will provide an overview of these foundational resources and the presentation will include a discussion on how teams can implement the Framework and build palliative care capacity through competencies.
Brigitte Rémillard, RN, BN, Manager, Southern Health-Santé Sud Palliative Care Program
Shannon Reimer, Palliative Care Coordinator, Southern Health-Santé Sud
B2 – Speaking the Unspoken: How to work with young families in palliative care
The palliative experience can be stressful for families. Parents and caregivers often struggle with how much to share and how to discuss death with young people. This presentation will explore how grief manifests across developmental stages, offer age-appropriate strategies for supporting children and youth, and provide tools to help parents and caregivers navigate these conversations. Emphasis will be placed on effective communication and emotional support to foster resilience in grieving children and their families.
Alana Kaplan, MSW, RSW, Psychosocial Support Specialist – WRHA Palliative Care Program
B3 – Dementia Patients and Palliative Care: how can we help?
Though medications have provided an immense boon to patients and providers, medications are drugs. Drugs have interactions and side-effects, as well as significant financial cost and other burdens. Using a case-based format, this talk will examine medications that have been prescribed completely appropriately, but whose continued use in patients with life-limiting illness often warrants careful examination. We will look at some arguably superfluous medications, some high-risk medications, and strategies to not prescribe and/or to de-prescribe.
Anne Huot, MD, MSc, CFPC(PC), Palliative Care Physician – WRHA Palliative Care Program
BLOCK C: September 18 – 1:15pm
C1 – Rename or Rebrand? Addressing the stigma associated with the name Palliative Care
This presentation uses peer reviewed articles and various forms of multimedia to address the stigma associated with the name palliative care. It reviews the linguistic roots of the term “palliative” and traces the evolution of palliative care from its early beginnings to present day. It then presents the argument for and against renaming palliative care, concluding that using education to rebrand palliative care is the best approach to addressing the stigma associated with its name.
Dr. Ashleigh Sprange, BAKin, BScMed, CCFP(PC), Palliative Care Physician – WRHA Palliative Care Program
C2 – Embodying Compassion: Integrating trauma informed care into palliative practice
Trauma is present in all of our lives to varying degrees, and it’s a word that is making its way into many facets of our lives including healthcare, but what exactly is trauma? How does impact us? For many patients and caregivers, a terminal illness is experienced as traumatic. This presentation will explore trauma in the context of palliative care and will include examples and practical applications of a trauma-informed approach to care.
Gaetane Lafond, MSW, RSW, Psychosocial Specialist – WRHA Palliative Care Program
C3 – The Art of Precious Scars
In this experiential workshop we will be exploring the lessons of the ancient Japanese healing practice called Kintsugi. Founded in the 15th century, Kintsugi is defined by ‘Kin’ meaning golden, ‘Tsugi’ meaning repair, thus ‘Golden Repair’. Through the tangible manifestation of the Kintsugi Bowl, we will be guided through intentional self-reflection and compassion to help harvest and heal the fragments of a wounded spirit. This deeply therapeutic and restorative practice, known also as The Art of Precious Scars, serves to garner hope, meaning, and resiliency following loss, trauma, and grief, while demonstrating the models of a Person-Centred Approach.
Rami Shami, Hospice Palliative Care Consultant
BLOCK D: September 19- 10:00am
D1/E1 – It takes a Village-a Compassionate Community-to support those who are ill, caregiving, dying, bereaved and marginalized-No. Matter. What.
We’ve heard the words, It takes a village, Compassionate Community and a Palliative Care Approach. But what do they really mean? Are we doing all that we can to empower ourselves and our community? Many of us can’t imagine how we can do more—We are already SO busy! As we navigate life, grief, illness, death… and all the messiness in between, can a Compassionate Community truly make the difference? I have the answer! Let’s Talk.
Yvonne Heath, RN, Founder – Love Your Life to Death
Please note this a 120 minute workshop and is continued into the next session.
D2/E2 – Improving Equity in Accessing a Palliative Approach to Care for Unhoused or Precariously Housed Persons
Persons who are unhoused or housed precariously face daily challenges, including gaps in accessing basic healthcare and other services to meet their social determinants of health. When facing a life-limiting illness, the gaps in care become more apparent, and the need for support increases. We will discuss what we have learned and how it applies to work being done in our communities to improve access to a palliative approach to care when it is needed.
Sarah-Jane Beaudry, RN, MN, Clinical Nurse Specialist – WRHA Palliative Care Program
Janice Nesbitt, RN, MSN, CHPCN(C), Clinical Operations Lead – WRHA Palliative Care Program
Please note this a 120 minute workshop and is continued into the next session.
D3 – Should I Stay or Should I Go Now: Re-examining our status quo
This session will gently challenge some equivocal topics in palliative care. What is palliative care, and should it be offered earlier? Where is the best place to die? If someone’s preferred place of death is not met, have we failed them? What evidence exists for artificial hydration as we die? We will review evidence with case studies from Canada and England to enhance discussion. Sometimes there are no simple answers, so let’s talk about it.
Jeanna Strutinsky-Mason, MSc, PGCert (MedSci), MD, MRCP(UK), Physician/Consultant – WRHA Palliative Care Program
BLOCK E: September 19 – 11:15am
CONTINUED: D1/E1- It takes a Village-a Compassionate Community-to support those who are ill, caregiving, dying, bereaved and marginalized-No. Matter. What.
Please note this a 120-minute workshop and is continued from the previous session.
Yvonne Heath, RN, Founder – Love Your Life to Death
CONTINUED: D2/E2 – Improving Equity in Accessing a Palliative Approach to Care for Unhoused or Precariously Housed Persons
Please note this a 120-minute workshop and is continued from the previous session.
Sarah-Jane Beaudry, RN, MN, Clinical Nurse Specialist – WRHA Palliative Care Program
Janice Nesbitt, RN, MSN, CHPCN(C), Clinical Operations Lead – WRHA Palliative Care Program
E3 – Approach to Pain Management at End-of-Life
Pain is a common and often feared symptom for patients nearing end of life with both cancer and non-cancer illnesses. This session will provide an overview of pain management for dying patients, including the prevalence of pain in this population, an approach to pain assessment, and basic pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic management strategies.
Ohunene Audu, MD, CCFP(PC), Physician Consultant – WRHA Palliative Care Program
BLOCK F: September 19 – 1:15pm
F1 – Queer Collective Grief as a Community Protective Factor
Queer communities have long faced collective grief due to historical and ongoing crises such as the AIDS epidemic, violence, and systemic discrimination. This presentation explores how disenfranchised grief impacts queer individuals and highlights the role of community resilience in navigating loss. Through shared mourning, activism, and connection, queer communities transform grief into solidarity – a built-in community protect factor. Recognizing these unique experiences can foster a more inclusive and supportive understanding of grief as a communal process.
Jessica Stefanik, BSW
F2 – Canadian Healing Quilt
The recently launched Canadian Healing Quilt is a virtual memorial space to gather, grieve, and honour someone who has died and participate in a nationwide community of healing. Families, friends, and colleagues can collaborate on a memorial quilt square which will become part of the national whole. The Healing Quilt was envisioned by Elder Albert McLeod and developed by the Canadian Virtual Hospice in collaboration with Palliative Manitoba, with investment from The Winnipeg Foundation.
Elder Albert McLeod, Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation and the Métis community of Norway House
Shelly Cory, MA, Executive Director – Canadian Virtual Hospice
Katharine Yurkiw, BA, CIM, RPR, Executive Director – Palliative Manitoba
F3 – Palliation of End Stage Kidney Disease
Increasing numbers of Canadians are living with advanced kidney disease. This presentation will provide an overview of end-of-life considerations, including prevalence, prognostication, common concerns and symptoms, and strategies for management.
Dr. Bernard Cox, CCFP, Palliative Care Physician – WRHA Palliative Care Program
