Projects |
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Hospice Care Alliance of British Columbia (HCABC)The creation of HCABC is the result of a report entitled: Hospice Care in British Columbia: The Path Forward. Over a period of one year, health care professionals from across BC collectively prepared this first-of-its-kind report in consultation with stakeholders and hospice care experts. A key recommendation detailed in the report is the formulation of HCABC with representatives from hospice organizations, government, health authorities, professional organizations, researchers, health care facilities, charities, and patient and family groups, to accelerate the improvement of hospice care in BC. |
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Hospice Leadership & Governance Learning Program (HLGLP)Strengthening leadership. Building healthy Boards. Supporting sustainable hospice care. BCHPCA’s HLGLP is a six month learning collaborative for community hospice organizations across British Columbia. From September 2026 to February 2027 it brings together Executive Directors, senior leaders, Board Chairs, Vice Chairs, and hospice leaders from across BC to strengthen governance, build leadership capacity, and learn from one another in a shared provincial space. Hospice organizations provide essential care for people living with life-limiting illness, families, and communities experiencing grief and loss. At the same time, Boards and leaders must navigate funding pressures, volunteer capacity, partnerships, workforce challenges, and long-term sustainability. Strong governance is what allows compassionate hospice care to thrive. This program helps Boards and senior leaders strengthen how they work together to build healthy, resilient, and sustainable organizations within the uncertainty of the climates we find ourselves in. The Learning JourneyEach month focuses on a key area of governance and leadership:
This program is built on shared experience across BC’s hospice sector. Participants bring diverse perspectives from different communities, and learn through facilitated discussion, real governance challenges, and peer exchange. The goal is not just individual learning, it is to strengthen hospice leadership and governance across the province. Strengthening Hospice Leadership Across BCThe HLGLP is one part of a broader training and capacity building program being developed by BCHPCA for those working and volunteering across hospice and palliative care in British Columbia. Over the next three years, BCHPCA will continue to develop sector specific learning opportunities in several priority areas, including:
The HLGLP represents one step in this broader journey. Through this growing body of learning and development opportunities, BCHPCA aims to build accessible, relevant, and sector specific education that reflects the realities of hospice and palliative care in British Columbia. By investing in the people who govern, lead, work, and volunteer within hospice palliative care, we strengthen the organizations and communities that support people and families through serious illness, dying, death, grief, and bereavement. |
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Standardized Data Collection and Metrics:In 2013, the BCHPCA released a hospice palliative care survey report which recommended the formation of a small task group to create “a common set of definitions for terms and categories needed in future province-wide data collection.” The report also suggested an investment “in the creation of database software to facilitate ongoing data collection and improve accuracy and completeness of data.” These key recommendations were also made in the Provincial Hospice Working Group’s report, Hospice Care in British Columbia: The Path Forward. However, to date, there are no provincial standards for data collection and metrics within hospice palliative care in BC. Standardized data collection and metrics will help governments, health authorities, hospice and palliative care organizations, and the general public understand the critical role hospice societies play in communities across BC. These data can be used to improve client care and funding opportunities for hospice palliative care since the lack of stable funding sources is the most urgent of the many challenges BC Hospice Societies face. The lack of funding sources and options leads hospice societies to compete against one another rather than allowing them to work collaboratively to support residents of BC and the Yukon. Learn more about this project here |
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Grief & Bereavement Strategic FrameworkGrief and bereavement support is a core, yet often under recognized, component of community-based health and mental health care in British Columbia. Hospice societies across the province deliver a wide range of grief and bereavement services, supporting individuals, families, caregivers, children, and communities before and after death, and across illness, caregiving, and loss. The Grief & Bereavement Strategic Framework is a provincial initiative led by hospice societies, and coordinated by BCHPCA to strengthen, align, and advance grief and bereavement services delivered by hospice societies. The framework aims to articulate the collective value of this work, identify shared priorities and gaps, and support a coordinated approach to policy, funding, education, and service delivery. This project is grounded in the realities of hospice societies operating in diverse contexts, including rural, remote, and urban communities, and recognizes grief and bereavement support as essential community infrastructure that contributes to population mental health, caregiver wellbeing, and system sustainability. Evidence and lived experience consistently show that timely, community-based grief and bereavement supports can reduce avoidable crisis responses, ease pressure on emergency departments and primary care, and help prevent the escalation of mental health needs. Project objectives include:
The Grief & Bereavement Strategic Framework will inform BCHPCA’s advocacy, policy engagement, and funding strategy, and will support hospice societies in presenting a clear, evidence informed case for sustainable, integrated grief and bereavement services across the province. |
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Volunteers CompetenciesAligned with our existing competency frameworks for health care professionals, the volunteer competencies are organized under eight headings, or domains. No matter how you decide to operationalize the competencies in your volunteer program, they are designed to help you better recruit, screen and train hospice volunteers. The new volunteer competency framework was co-created with 18 representatives of hospice organizations from across BC, and was guided by key provincial and regional hospice palliative care partners and experts. This session will help you to consider how the document will be of benefit in settings other than hospices, such as long-term care or volunteer–led community groups and organizations that support people effected with serious illness. |
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Naming Definition
In 2022, the BC Centre for Palliative Care and BC Hospice Palliative Care Association kicked off an initiative to establish a common definition of the care provided by hospice societies across BC. The project originated as a response to an action item in the Hospice Care in British Columbia: The Path Forward Report which puts forth a 10-step action plan to enhance access to integrated, high-quality hospice care for all British Columbians. This project aims to fulfill action item 4 of The Path Forward plan, which calls for the establishment of a common definition of hospice care in BC. The establishment of a common definition will promote the use of consistent terminology, resulting in enhanced clarity for both the general public and stakeholders within the health system and community partners. This clarity will enable the full potential of hospice societies to be effectively utilized. Additionally, it will play a pivotal role in guiding advocacy efforts aimed at enhancing the quality and supporting the sustainability of care provided by hospice societies. |
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About the associationBCHPCA represents its members: individuals and organizations that deliver hospice/palliative care and bereavement services and programs across British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. | Contact usEmail: office@bchpca.org Unit 1100- 1200 West 73rd Ave, | Stay InTouchKeep up to date on upcoming events and recent job postings |
The BC Hospice Palliative Care Association (BCHPCA) recognizes the traditional land of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples who have walked before us and minded the lands we now call home for time immemorial. Hospice Societies have been able to support, aid and care for many people on these same lands. The BCHPCA Offices are located on the ancestral, traditional, and unceded lands of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and TsleilWaututh Nations.
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