Will not deny death

When Barbara Jannasch came to Canada 50 years ago she couldn’t believe the ‘denial of death’ she saw in this country. After experiencing the Second World War in eastern Germany as a nurse, she knew there had to be a better way.

Jannasch has been an advocate for hospices and palliative care for years. At the age of 80, she still offers workshops on the topic of facing death. For her recent birthday an afternoon of choral and chamber music was held in St. Margaret’s Bay and close to $4,000 raised for the Valley Hospice Foundation.

I telephoned Mrs. Jannasch last week in Seabright near Peggy’s Cove to ask her why a woman on the other side of the province is such a strong supporter of an Annapolis Valley dream.

An active member of the St. Margaret’s Bay Palliative Care network for many years, she reminded me how red tape stymied hospice plans here for about a decade. “I couldn’t do much and I’m too impatient,” this self-described stubborn lady said.

Asking family and friends to contribute was “a lovely way” to celebrate her birthday. “I don’t want presents anymore.” Not only that, Mrs. Jannasch sees the Valley project as a beginning for other hospices in communities across Nova Scotia. It was the first and is now thankfully more than a glimmer on the horizon.

Since Dr. Jim Perkin and the first hospice board began agitating, the Nova Scotia Hospice Palliative Care Association has started. Palliative units are running or in the works for Halifax, Pictou, Sydney and Truro.

The Valley Hospice Foundation and Annapolis Valley Health (AVH) have formed a partnership to establish an eight-bed hospice at Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville. The foundation is currently looking for 2,000 members/supporters to further the project.

At the foundation’s annual meeting, the new partnership with the Valley Health was outlined. In fact, AVH Foundation president Trinda Ernst said the medal for perseverance belongs to the hospice foundation -- and she was right.

About $8 million needs to be raised collectively to build the hospice and to improve day surgery and emergency facilities, Ernst noted. The first of its kind in Atlantic Canada, our hospice will be developed to fit the needs and resources of this region. We will not deny death.

The official campaign has not quite started, but the hospice folks have already collected over $330,000. Recently Scotian Gold Garden Centre staff and campers at Sherwood Forest in Coldbrook contributed, and Mrs. Jannasch’s birthday concert added more.