Buddhist Hospice Care Project

Meeting April 23, 2008

2008-05-04T07:48:00.000-07:00

Attendees:
Helen Craigie
Chris Ng
Kanae Kinshoto

Hello Everyone,
Our last meeting was small but very productive. Chris Ng came to speak about an event that she is putting together directed to both the healthcare community and the Buddhist communities here in Toronto.

For healthcare workers, the forum will emphasize the benefits that a Buddhist approach can offer, and also that there is a specific body of knowledge healthcare providers can acquire to service people who are Buddhist. The Buddhist community will be shown how their needs can be met by the Canadian health system.

The proposed event will take place over a weekend and include keynote speakers and practical workshops. Chris is hoping that we can bring Linda Carlson as the main keynote speaker. Linda Carlson is an Associate Professor in Psychosocial Oncology at the University of Calgary; her current research includes working with cancer patients in areas of mind-body medicine, meditation and yoga. Here is Dr. Linda Carlson's website.http://www.ucalgary.ca/~lcarlso/

The other proposed speakers are still to be determined, but we are hoping to get local speakers for the forum giving a Buddhist academic perspective, a caregiver’s perspective and a spiritual perspective on palliative care.

Chris had great suggestions for practical workshops to be offered to compliment the speaker presentations. One idea is to have someone from the Buddhist community introduce the Chinese practice of qigong. Medical qigong treatment has been officially recognized as a standard medical technique in Chinese hospitals since 1989. Qigong as a medical technique teaches practitioners to learn diaphragmatic breathing, an important component of relaxation which is important in combating stress and promoting mindfulness.

Overall, the hope is that this event will foster interactions among the diverse Buddhist communities in Toronto, articulate the needs of the community and to attract the attention of people in the healthcare system to Buddhist oriented complimentary healthcare services.

I am excited to get started planning this event with Chris and I know that our diverse talents will bring a lot to the table. I think that we should get together again soon for a good brainstorming session for ideas for speakers, possible funding partnerships etc.
Talk again soon!

Event Opportunity

2008-03-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

I received an email from Chris Ng this week with a very exciting opportunity for our group to get involved in an event later in the year. Chris is organizing a forum in Toronto focusing on Buddhism and Health in Canada. The objective of the event is to bring to light the many benefits that Buddhist philosophy and practice has to offer the medical system. This forum will be a joint celebration involving local Sanghas and Toronto’s Buddhist temples.

The date and time of the event are still in the works but Chris is very interested in having our group represented as an active community organization focused on Buddhism and end-of-life care in Toronto. Chris is currently in discussions with prospective key-note speaker Dr. Linda Carlson from the University of Calgary.

Chris is keen to come to our next meeting and discuss this coming event. I think that this is just the type of opportunity that we were talking about wanting to be involved in.

Group Name

2008-03-06T11:08:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

As we have discussed our group needs a new name. Our current name is causing some confusion and people mistakenly think that our mandate is to try and build a hospice. I've been coming up with suggestions for new names and I'd like to know what you think. Please leave comments on which one you like, or by all means make a suggestion for a new name.

My thoughts are:

Buddhist Palliative Care Project

Toronto Buddhist Hospice Network

Toronto Buddhist Palliative Care Connection

Toronto Buddhist Care Connection

Toronto Buddhist End-of-Life Network

Bardo-well

Meeting February 20th, 2007

2008-03-06T11:06:00.000-08:00

Meeting February 20, 2008

Attendees:
Helen Craigie
Will Sutherland
George Klima
Kanae Kinshoto
Marnie Roper
Andrew Blake
Terry Woo

Hello everyone, thanks again for making it out to our meeting. I think that the Multifaith Center was a great location for us to get together and we’ll continue to meet there in the future. Great suggestion Kanae!

This meeting was very interesting in that we had a couple of newcomers who offered great insight into other Buddhist focused groups in the city and what they are up to. Andrew is from Gitche M’Qua and he came to the meeting to get some more information on what we are up to. It turns out that Gitche M’Qua has some very similar objectives as far as organizing speaker series and education. Terry Woo came with great insight into what is going on in the Buddhist community in Toronto. She offered great networking links for us and ideas for groups to become involved with and possible funding sources.

Group Discussion

First topic raised was my meeting with Michael Skaljin who chairs the Council of Toronto Buddhists and he works for the City of Toronto. We were excited with the idea of joining forces with the Council so that our efforts can compliment each others in the future. We hope that Michael can make it to a meeting sometime in the future.

Next I spoke about the invitation that I received from the Bereavement Ontario Network. They are hosting a three-day conference, October 15-17, called “Grief in Today’s Mosaic Cultural Perspectives” and want someone from our group to speak about grief and dying from a Buddhist perspective. Kanae very kindly offered to get in touch with Bereavement Ontario, and possibly speak at the conference. I hope that this works out, it looks like a great event.

We then read over the revised Mission Statement and agreed that it adequately represents the goals of the group.

We discussed our four areas of focus (education, research, network, and care/support) and had a round table discussion about which activities each of us are interested in participating.

George and I share an interest in research into what the healthcare needs are in the Buddhist community and what good health means to a Buddhist living in Toronto. We are both keen to gain understanding as to where our system of care is not meeting the needs of the Buddhist community.

I also have an interest in leading management of the website networking tool. I am keen to get this going and I know that everyone else in the group will have many resources and links to offer for posting.

Kanae expressed interest in engaging in events. After speaking with Andrew about his experience with events such as speaker series, etc. with the Gitche M’Qua Centre. We realized that the types of events that our group is interested in hosting are of a very similar nature, and we even share group members who work on these events. We decided that the best course of action is for our group to team up with Gitche M’Qua in future events and work together to combine efforts when it comes to planning and working at events.

Marnie expressed an interest in transforming how we provide end-of-life care through broad education toward an understanding of religious needs and giving patients what they need.

Terry offered a unique perspective into the Buddhist community and offered great insight into what organized Buddhist groups are focused on and who we should contact to make connections.
As usual, the end of the meeting came very quickly. I will contact everyone for our next discussion in the next few weeks.

Draft 2 - Mission Statement

2008-01-15T17:24:00.000-08:00

The Buddhist Hospice Care Project is a network of people and information focused on providing resources and practical assistance for patients, families and caregivers interested in end of life care support in the Toronto area. We envision providing a network that values and practices Buddhist palliative and hospice care in Toronto’s diverse community.

Meeting December 10, 2007

2008-01-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

Meeting December 10, 2007

Attendees:
Helen Craigie
Frances Garrett
George Kilma
Kanae Kinoshita
Marnie Roper

Hello again everyone, thanks to everyone who came to our last meeting back in December. My apologies for not posting these meeting minutes sooner, but I was traveling in India for three weeks on my honeymoon! Quite exciting really.

Our last meeting was very productive and I’ll get right to it.

Mission Statement

Firstly we summarized our previous meeting and discussed the draft Mission Statement. We took the one that I posted and re-jigged it using suggestions given from Craig. I’ll post a revised draft and hopefully by next meeting we can have the Mission Statement solidified.

Function of Group

Conversation around the Mission Statement brought to light our next topic of discussion, the function of the group. Are we a group that provides a network of caregivers or are going to provide actual care? This question was raised in light of the fact that there are many caregivers in our community who are practicing but are un-compensated and a relatively unknown resource to those who are interested in their service.

It was agreed that our group has room to expand in many directions, and there is no reason exclude providing care as well as our base network of care providers.

Name of Group

The name of the group, The Buddhist Hospice Care Project, was robbed from the previous group’s website. I also robbed the mailing list, and that’s how you’ve been receiving emails from me. It’s about time that we renamed ourselves. I’m putting together some suggestions for everyone to comment on. We’ll have a poll decide on one together. If you have any suggestions then by all means, let everyone know.

List and Categorize Activities of Group

We brainstormed and made a categorized list of accomplishments and services that we want to provide in the next 1-2 years. Then we marked next to each activity whether it is a long term goal or a short term activity. The categories and activities broke down as follows:

Education
Lectures
Workshops
Information Brochures directed at caregivers
Information Brochures directed at medical students
End of Life Ritual information
End of Life Lecture series
Panel Discussion – multi-Buddhist representatives
Publication – simple stories with Buddhist message – needs grant

Network
Online Directory - Website
Blog
Network with other similar groups

Care/Support
Volunteer Support
Training
Residences-Hospice

Research
Needs Analysis
Bibliography
Resource of Current Studies and Research

Focus for Next Meeting

There is a lot to do for the next meeting. I am going to come up with a tentative timeline for activities with specific needs and how others can get involved. I am also going to solidify our Mission Statement for final discussion. Also we are going to have our group name poll and decide at the next meeting our final decision.

Until next time!

Helen Keller:
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart.

Draft Mission Statement

2007-11-28T18:32:00.000-08:00

The Buddhist Hospice Care Project is a network of people and information focused on providing resources and practical assistance for patients, families and caregivers interested in Buddhist hospice care support in the Toronto area. Focused on providing practical palliative care information to the public and healthcare professionals, we deliver up-to-date resources and contacts as well as opportunities for learning and participating in Buddhist healthcare strategies.

Meeting November 23, 2007

2007-11-27T17:38:00.001-08:00

Buddhist Hospice Committee
Meeting November 23, 2007

Attendees:
Helen Craigie
Frances Garrett
Will Sutherland
George Klima
Craig Mackie

Thanks to everyone that made it through the blizzard to our second meeting. We made real progress during the short time that we were together and I think that things are coming together wonderfully.

We began our meeting with a recap of our first meeting and whom we have spoken with since then. I spoke of my meeting with Susan MacDonald from Perram House and my telephone meeting with Andrew Blake from the Gitche M’Qua Centre.

Craig Mackie discussed his communications with people at the Bob Kemp Hospice and Sister Tinh Quang from Blue Heron Centre both located in Hamilton.

Our aim at this meeting was to try and put together a clear Vision Statement for the committee. Craig led us through some mental exercises, making clear what our personal values are, and what we value for the group. What we want to change in the world and what we have accomplished in our own lives. This was an excellent way of getting to the root of what we want as a committee and where we hope to go in the future. We brainstormed for a vision statement and came up with a rough outline of what we are looking for.

At this time our Vision Statement is in its draft stage and will be open for discussion and revision. I will post a draft this week and everyone is encouraged to comment and share ideas. By our next meeting should be able to agree on a final Vision Statement that we are all proud of and objectives that we all want to be a part of.

We made a list of activities that we want to do in our group. The list was a brainstorm, but we came up with some fantastic ideas that are completely feasible.

Possible Activities
Visiting Lecturers
Workshops (CME Credits)
Online Directory of Services
Publications – pamphlets, booklet of Buddhist stories of death
Buddhist Chaplin network
Facility
Research into the needs of the community
Support for families of Buddhists who are dying, grieving

It became clear by the activities that we want to provide to the Buddhist public that we are looking to become a network of information. We want to provide a place where people go to find information, people to support, resources to educate etc.

What are we going to do next?

Finalize our Vision statement
Put together a website. This will probably become the base of the committee.
Research to begin filling the website with links and resources.
Look into possible guest speakers, venues and other activities that we could run and promote to create awareness.

Thanks so much again for coming last week. Things are really starting to come together. I can’t wait until our next meeting in the weeks to come.

Please comment on the draft statement when it gets posted. This is our group, so we all need to be behind the Vision and believe in what we want to accomplish.

-->Helen Keller:
I long to accomplish a great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.

Meeting November 1, 2007

2007-11-06T08:16:00.001-08:00

Buddhist Hospice Committee
Meeting November 1, 2007

Attendees:

Helen Craigie
Frances Garrett
Susannah
Will Sutherland
Jasmine baetz
Kanae
Veronique
George Klima
Craig Mackie

Discussion Question – What Direction Could This Group Take?

Outreach to local Centres?
Which Centres have funding, which centres need funding?
What do people in Toronto want? What are the needs of the community?
Group could organize training for medical practitioners, for volunteers.
Group could produce a manual for palliative care for Buddhists.
Website could be info-source with up-to-date information and links, directory and places to refer people for help.
Group could work toward training for a home hospice-training unit.
Look to Muslim community for guidance.

Discussion Question – Funding

SSHRC Grant Proposal – $20,000 in funding – Due 21-Nov-07, need a partner.
Trillium Foundation – funding or possible partner? 01-Mar-08 deadline?
Buddha’s Light – funding or possible partner?
Bridgepoint – funding or possible partner?
Dr. Bob Kemp Family Fund – Hamilton - Chris to look into.
CCAC
Will to email Susan at Perram House

Discussion Question – Next Steps

Get SSHRC proposal together -
Group objectives – Chris Mackie working on
Reach organizations working in Buddhist palliative care
How do we put across that care is not just for Buddhists
Arrange next meeting