End-of-life care expert Nadine Persaud
For making palliative care accessible to all
Everyone will die, but not everyone is able to die with dignity. This can come down to the accessibility of hospice palliative care, says Nadine Persaud, executive director of Torontos Kensington Hospice, a not-for-profit that specializes in equitable end-of-life care. That can mean helping with last wishes, planning a celebration of life or supporting a family through the grieving process.After the sudden loss of a friend in high school, Persaud pursued degrees in social work and a doctorate in palliative care. For her student placement, she worked at a hospice, where she saw the power and potential of this work up close. She was inspired to ensure that the social determinants of health, such as income level or background, dont impact whether people can access palliative care. Caregivers need to ask questions like: Does this person have a support system? Financial resources and stable housing? What do they need?On an average day at Kensington, says Persaud, 37 percent of the beds go to people who are structurally vulnerable, like refugees and the unhoused. She recalls one patient who lived most of his life on the streets, and was known for his love of music. He arrived at Kensington with a single grocery bag of belongings. Every time he saw Persaud, he sang You Are My Sunshine. As he passed away, the staff sang the same song.It was a full circle of care, says Persaud. If he were on the streets, he likely would have died in the emergency room, instead of spending his final days doing what was most important to him. Ishani Nath(Related: A Death Doula Shares How the Pandemic Affected Peoples End-of-Life)
