maison vale hospice

By Angela Gemmill

Palliative Care for children has been in the news lately with the story of the young boy whose hometown of St George, Ontario held an early Christmas for him before he died.

Evan Leversage was just seven years old when he passed away in hospice, earlier this month in Brantford.

The Maison Vale Hospice in Sudbury is only for adults in the final stages of life.

But the facility is conducting a pilot project for teen cancer patients, ages 12-18.

Director of Care, Lyle Foreshew says thankfully they haven’t had any clients yet be part of this study.

Foreshew says the pilot would evaluate the hospice’s health care staff on whether they could meet the palliative needs of a young population in the future.

There are very few places offering palliative care for children and youth.

Watching someone move through the final stages of life is difficult at the best of times, but it’s even more heart-wrenching when it’s a child who is receiving palliative care.