Enjoy a collection of Hospice Stories in celebration of years of compassionate care in Ontario:

• The Remarkable Human Spirit
   – Doane House Hospice, Newmarket

• Coming Full Circle: 100 Years Later
   – Elliot Lake Palliative Care Program, Elliot Lake

• Hospice is More Than a Building
   – Lisaard House, Cambridge

• Die As You Have Lived
   – Niagara-on-the-Lake Community Palliative Care Services, Niagara

• How I Dropped the 'S'
   – Palliative Care Victoria, Lindsay

• Kathy
   – VON Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie

• A Letter From Mom
   – VON Hamilton Palliative Volunteer Service, Hamilton

Words From Janet Napper, Former Executive Director

There will always be a need for caring, for compassion, for respect, and for providing choices in care settings. And there will always be the need for the Hospice Association of Ontario and its members to ensure that people in Ontario, no matter where they live, die with dignity.

We are delighted to share this collection of commemorative stories that reflect the humane and compassionate face of the hospice movement in Ontario.

Words From June Callwood

I was raised in a village of a few hundred people, mostly related to one another and all members of one congregation – so we were close knit. Everyone was poor and the way the village worked was that we had to help one another. If something bad happened to anyone it was our collective responsibility to come to the rescue. All the children were safe because all of the adults watched over us, and all of the children, in turn, had to run errands for any adult who asked.

I grew up thinking that is the way the world works, that we have responsibility for one another, be they kin folk or not. We are dependent on one another, and could not stand alone for very long.

Joseph Conrad said, "We exist only so long as we hang together."

And that is the way the hospice movement works; people hanging together. It is a noble sight. It is ennobling practice. This is a room full of quiet beauty, and I am grateful to be among you. Thank you.

From her speech at the HAO Conference, October 2004