Paramedic starts program that grants wishes to palliative patients

Gary Wright’s wish wasn’t for something big.

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He just wanted to go home.

The lifelong Paris resident, who had been battling a malignant brain tumor known as Glioblastoma Multiforme for several years, had been in and out of hospital for months at a time and a patient at Stedman Community Hospice since early June.

In July, he became the first recipient of the new Brantford Community Paramedic Wish Program, a passion project of local paramedic Andrew Wood, who wants to provide personalized experiences to palliative clients.

Wright, who died on July 23 at age 57, wanted to spend a bit of time with his beloved pets and eat some Chinese food at home with his family.

“He built our house five years ago and he loved his cats,” said Wright’s wife Heidi. “They knew he wasn’t well and did nothing but smother him for the last three years.”

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Accompanied by two paramedics, a personal support worker from Stedman, his wife, and their daughters, Skyler and Schae-Lee, Wright, who was a custom homebuilder, was able to be in his favorite place for about three hours before returning to hospice.

Nash, his 14-year-old tabby, and Bentley, an eight-year-old calico, visited Wright as he lay in a stretcher. Then came a Chinese food feast of chicken chow Mien, almond soo guy and chicken balls.

“It was absolutely heartwarming,” said Heidi who was married Gary, her high school sweetheart, for 32 years. “It brought some joy to his eyes and brought him some peace.”

Wood, who at age 29, has already been a paramedic for nine years, said part of his job is to transport people to palliative care at Brantford General Hospital and Stedman Hospice.

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“We’d have nice conversations on the way,” he said. “I’d ask them what they did for a living, if they traveled a lot and if there is anything they wished they had done. They’d sometimes say things like, ‘I miss going to Tim Hortons every Friday.’ Then they’d joke and say, ‘Can you take me now?’” Of course I couldn’t, but I always thought, why not? It would take no time at all and make a world of difference to them.

“I saw an opportunity to make people happy when, unfortunately, they don’t have a lot of time left.”

The Wish Program, which Wood fashioned after a similar one in Oxford County, took about a year to establish after meetings with palliative staff at BGH and the hospice to create policies and procedures.

The program is open to clients who can’t go out on their own, who are registered with a palliative program, and can be transferred.

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Although Wood can’t grant extravagant wishes, he can fulfill small desires, maybe a trip to the beach to watch the sunset, or a chance to watch a live hockey game. If it isn’t possible to grant an in-person wish, the program may be able to offer a parallel experience through virtual reality.

“It’s such an amazing program,” said Karen Candy, vice president of Stedman Community Hospice. “Time spent with family is so precious and being able to participate in making a final wish come true for a family during their time here was a great honor for our staff.”

Wood said the nature of paramedic work includes both good and bad days. He envisions the Wish Program increasing the number of good ones.

“It feels great to be able to do this,” he said.

Heidi thinks there is going to be a big demand.

“It was such a blessing for us.”

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