The Federal ‘New Horizons’ program has come to the Tiverton Park Manor, home of the Tiverton Hospice that recently celebrated its 1st anniversary.
On Thursday, April 2nd, Co-Chairs of the Hospice Committee, Cheryl Cottrill and Carol Rencheck announced that the Hospice has received a $25,000 grant from the New Horizons program.
The funds will be used to help develop grief support programming to help families with personal loss and healing education to change the conversation around death and dying.
Cottrill said the program is to help “normalize” death and they will be hosting “Death Cafe’s”, where people come out and simply talk about issues around death and dying.
According to Cottrill, Municipality of Kincardine Mayor Anne Eadie introduced the
grant program and seniors will be part of the development of it.
“Focus groups are being established in Huron-Kinloss, Kincardine and Saugeen Shores where seniors will be invited to train in the programs and topics around death and dying,” said Cottrill.
The New Horizons Program has 5 objectives:
- promoting volunteerism among seniors and other generations;
- engaging seniors in the community through the mentoring of others;
- expanding awareness of elder abuse, including financial abuse;
- supporting the social participation and inclusion of seniors; and
- providing capital assistance for new and existing community projects and programs for seniors.
“The New Horizons program has been around for well over a decade,” said MP Ben Lobb. “It has funded programs from Southampton to Dashwood to Exter, so almost every community in Huron-Bruce counties. We may be approaching close to a million dollars and it focuses on both programming and small capital projects up to $25,000. The main idea is to get seniors out and involved in their communities and to get them active to continued to be a meaningful part of their lives as they age.”
Lobb said that program being established by the Tiverton hospice is a unique idea. “Understanding what hospice is and getting the information out to surrounding municipalities to help a loved one going into a hospice room, how it is different from being in a hospital and how it can be a very special part of the last stage of life is important. The more people know and understand and the more seniors help adds credibility to the program.”
According to Lobb, it would be “great if someday the program was funded by 75 per cent from the Federal and Provincial Governments. This is making a difference in peoples’ lives and in their communities.”
