Looking back on Compassionate Hamilton’s latest community event, committee member Erin Gallagher vividly recalled the moment that an attending paramedic found patient-saving resources at the same time a lost man found direction.  

“ I ran into a gentleman with a chronic illness who learned about our event through his healthcare provider, as he had recently been diagnosed with a chronic illness and just didn't know where to start,” she said. “We had an exhibitor who is working as a health advocate for people finding her people, and a paramedic who was so giddy finding resources her clients and patients could benefit from.

“So that was like a huge soul-filling moment for me,” Gallagher added. 

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In total, upwards of 45 organizations and 100 members of the public gathered on November 13 for Compassionate Hamilton’s ‘#IJustShowedUp’ event, supported by Good Shepherd Centres. There, attendees were treated to a keynote session from Yvonne Heath, the founder of Love Your Life to Death, on the topic of empowerment and resilience in the face of grief and life’s challenges. 

Billed as an event to help connect the dots for those facing life-limiting illness and death in an effort to better navigate health care and community services, Compassionate Hamilton leaned into its triple-threat mission of raising awareness, educating and connecting existing resources to fill gaps in Hamilton’s support network for those in need. 

It was the Hamilton chapter’s third annual event and its most well-received to date. For Gallagher, both the  networking amongst potential partners and being able to reach those suddenly facing illness or caregiving with no roadmap was an encouraging sight to see. 

“ Having a serious illness or caring for someone who does is not always planned for. People often find themselves in the thick of it, and they don't know where to turn. We want to make sure that people are prepared for how to deal with these things when they need it, because inevitably we all do,” she said. 

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Heath’s talk brought humour, hope, and empowerment to the conventionally heavy topics, giving those in attendance insight into how to show up for themselves or others dealing with such issues. As with past events, the keynote aligned perfectly with Compassionate Hamilton’s vision that loss, dying, death, grief and bereavement are everyone’s business. 

While the organization emphasizes the need to build communities of support as having never been more apparent due to the number of caregivers and their assistance expected to increase in the coming years, the event also takes place during an interesting shift in mentality around death and dying in Canada. 

With practices like medical assistance in dying having now become headlines in the healthcare and palliative care landscape, conversations about death are indeed more open, but vastly more complicated and complex. It’s a reality that Compassionate Hamilton is in tune with, despite not taking any formal stances. 

To them, the individual remains vitally important — more so than the ever-changing, politicized landscape. 

“As a very general statement, death and dying have become super medicalized over the decades, and I think we turn to medicine to provide answers for what are inherently very social issues — we've lost our way,” Gallagher said. 

“ Death and dying are happening in various ways out there regardless, and if things are happening in one way just because people are ill-informed and don't have resources, then that's something that we can play a role in; we can change that.”

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With another successful, informative event complete, Compassionate Hamilton is looking ahead to continuing its annual events while keeping its year-round education and networking offerings running. The tight-knit, volunteer-based committee is also currently  applying for charitable status with the hopes of formalizing its approach in the future. 

For more on Compassionate Hamilton’s work and future events, visit their website at https://compassionatehamilton.ca/.