What is a Compassionate Community

Hello everyone,
I am interested in seeing how this concept works both here and in lower income countries.

Hello everyone! Sorry in advance - you'll come across this more than once as we want to make sure everyone will see it:

I'm Cara, the Compassionate Communities Engagement Coordinator. The Exchange is meant to be informative, current, engaging, and most of all, useful to you! 

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A great article written by the daughter of the first person to die at the new Halifax Hospice. An amazing testament to the importance of having compassionate care available for all.

https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/opinion/commentary-first-fond-farewel…

Around the world there seems to be different ideas of what a community is within the Compassionate Communities movement.

Here is the definition we are exploring in Canada:
A Community is a group of people who have something in common.
A community may be people who live near each other, in a city, town, or a neighbourhood. It may also be a group of people who have a common interests, goals, or experiences, such as co-workers, members of a faith community, or even members of a book club, running group, or online group.

Do you agree with this definition? I would love to hear your thoughts.

This poster shows how the Compassionate Community movement was evolving in Canada in 2017. You can see how is playing a leadership role and some of the activities they had undertaken at this point. This is a great poster to share when stakeholders are wondering how Compassionate Communities are being built.

Title: Compassionate Communities in Canada: it is everyone’s
responsibility (2018)

This article looks at the evolution of Compassionate Communities within Canada and how the movement is being foster. It also covers examples of work in other areas that could be used to help foster communication in schools. This is a great article to show potential stakeholders who would like to understand how much work has been done already within Canada and those who are supporting the movement.

This is apart of a special collection, to see other articles on Compassionate Communities within this collection, click here: http://apm.amegroups.com/issue/view/693ew/693

The Compassionate City Charter: A Road-map for Community-wide Change

Are you wondering how to build community-wide change to support those who are experiencing serious illness, caregiving, dying and grieving? As covered in the Palliative Care Re-Imagined article, The Compassionate City Charter encourages the idea that these experiences are everyone's responsibility within the community. The Compassionate City Charter guides those fostering community wide change, to ensure the engagements will lead to making it everyone's responsibility. 

To access The Compassionate City Charter click here: http://www.phpci.info/tools/

Title: Palliative Care Re-imagined (2016)

This article was published just after the release of the Compassionate City Charter in 2015. Prof Kellehear and Dr. Abel look to answer two questions in this article:
1. How can we provide an equitable level of care for all people irrespective of diagnosis?
2. How can we increase the range and quality of non-medical/nursing supportive care in a context of diminishing resources? 

Reviewing this document would be helpful if you are still looking for more information on why Compassionate Communities is a public health approach.

Title: Compassionate communities: end-of-life care as everyone’s responsibility (2013)

This was released before the Compassionate City Charter in 2015. Prof. Kellehear explains why public health should include end of life care and how the Compassionate Communities movement is an example of a Public Health approach to Palliative care. Leading to the idea that in order to support those dealing with serious illness, caregiving, dying, and grieving, it MUST be everyone's responsibility. Another great pieces about this article is, it will show you what the foundation of Compassionate Communities is and how this links Age Friendly Communities, Dementia Friendly Communities, and of course Compassionate Communities. This is helpful as there is a lot of discussion around these three frameworks of community development in Canada. 

Title: Living well until the end: the role of community

In this video Honourable Carstairs walks us through the history of palliative care in Canada, where we need to go and the role communities need to play to help support all Canadians who are experiencing serious-illness, caregiving, dying and grieving. She mentions that over the years when speaking about the communities' role, people often say "I can help, but I don't know how to help". This is where Compassionate Communities initiatives can take a leadership role by help members of their community take an active role in caring for people, assist people to live comfortably in their homes, connect people to supports, raise awareness about end of life issues, and develop the capacity of others in the community.

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