Palliative care wasn’t on Susan Doucette’s radar as a job prospect when she graduated from nursing school, but all it took was a short time working in the field.
“I really liked the work and just felt like it was where I fit… and felt like I could really do some good work,” she said.
Doucette is now in her 31st year working in that health-care stream. She became a provincial co-ordinator for home-based palliative care in P.E.I. about a year ago.
Her prediction that she could do good work in the profession has certainly come to pass. Doucette was recently awarded a King Charles III Coronation Medal for her leadership in advancing palliative care in the province.
“I believe strongly that you get more out of it when you put more into it,” she said.
“So it’s a great honour to feel like somebody has recognized the work I’m doing enough to even nominate me for the award, but it’s a bit humbling too because I don’t do what I do to get recognition.”
David Hawes of Wabush is one of 30,000 people receiving King Charles III Coronation medals across Canada.
David Hawes of Wabush is one of 30,000 people receiving King Charles III Coronation medals across Canada. (Government of Canada)
The medals commemorate the coronation of King Charles III. Eligible candidates “must have made a significant contribution to Canada or to a particular province, territory, region or community of Canada, or have made an outstanding achievement abroad that brings credit to Canada,” according to the federal government’s website.
Doucette is one of 25 people working in palliative care from across the country to receive the medal. She is the only honouree from Prince Edward Island.
“From creating educational tools for healthcare professionals to personally ensuring that patients and families are well-supported, Susan Doucette exemplifies leadership in advancing palliative care in PEI,” Laurel Gillespie, CEO of the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association, said in a statement.
Taking the fear out of palliative care
Through her role with the province, Doucette focuses on educating health-care workers and the general community about the benefits of palliative care.
She said many people used to look at the palliative option as a last resort for end-of-life care, when in reality the model has shifted to include providing comfort from the outset of a terminal diagnosis.
“The benefits of having a palliative approach to care early on in your disease trajectory improves quality of life, it decreases anxiety, it decreases depression,” she said.
“It’s taken a bit longer for people to get that message because some people were scared of the word ‘palliative,’ and still are.”
This approach to care includes not just patients in the provincial palliative care centre, but more often those who are in long-term care settings or receiving treatment at home.
Chochinov developed an intervention called “dignity therapy” which involves patients answering open-ended questions to talk about their lives or what matters most to them.
‘I’m a firm believer that we need to take care of our people, and that’s the essence of palliative care,’ says Doucette. (Shutterstock)
Though the perception of palliative care as a scary thing is slowly changing, Doucette encourages other health workers and the public to spread the word that it can improve a patient’s quality of life.
If anything, she hopes being recognized with the king’s coronation medal helps to increase that awareness.
“I’ve always felt that if we can empower other health-care workers then the whole health system gets empowered, and that will only create better palliative care for all of our … patients and their families out in the community,” Doucette said.
“I’m a firm believer that we need to take care of our people, and that’s the essence of palliative care.”
