A retreat organized and funded in the Sarnia area for those working and volunteering in palliative care may become an annual event after starting out being held every two years.
The Bluewater Palliative Care Retreat, being held this year Sept. 29 and 30 in Grand Bend, is funded by the Bluewater International Granfondo cycling event held from Mike Weir Park in Sarnia’s Bright’s Grove.
“Now, it’s probably going to be every year,” said Dr. Glen Maddison, one of the retreat organizers.
It brings together those involved in palliative care to hear presentations and share information.
“That’s how we learn, how we get better and how we take better care of our patients,” Maddison said.
“The other thing is our nursing staff and health care workers are being stressed,” he said.
“This is a way of dealing with that burnout and stress, by coming together, learning more and also networking and talking to other people.”
This month’s retreat will be the fourth.
Participants are expected from Sarnia, Windsor, London and Chatham, as well as those attending on-line from further away, he said.
This year it’s a hybrid event being held both in-person at the Oakwood Resort in Grand Bend, as well as online.
“Last year – because of COVID – we did only virtual and it was actually a fairly successful event. . . we had people probably from every province in Canada, and even a few from the states,” he said.
“So we thought, ‘Why don’t we offer that too?’”
About 60 participants had already registered for the virtual version of this month’s event, as of the middle of last week, he said.
About 100 people were registered to attend in-person, which was approaching the maximum allowed by the venue’s capacity, Maddison said.
Presenters at this year’s conference include geriatric specialists from Halifax who will speak about frailty in long-term care.
Maddison said retreat attendees include long-term care workers, as well as workers and volunteers in palliative care.
Also presenting will be a Vancouver specialist speaking about issues in palliative care, including the use of cannabis.
Another presenter is Dr. Red Hoffman from South Carolina. “She’s a surgeon but she also works in hospice-palliative care,” Maddison said. “She has her own podcast, which is where I heard her.”
A pastor from Detroit will speak about faith and health care, and Dr. James Downar from Ottawa will speak about early identification of patients requiring palliative care.
There is a registration fee but support from the granfondo covers about 80 per cent of the retreat’s costs, Maddison said.
“We absolutely wouldn’t be able to do it” without that support, he said.
The contributions from the granfondo also allow volunteers to register for the retreat at no cost.
The retreat’s website is bpcr.ca.