ABSTRACT
Compassionate Ottawa (CO) is a community model of caring established in November 2016 at a gathering of community leaders who enthusiastically agreed that caring for one another at times of life-threatening illness is everyone’s responsibility.
Word spread of the new initiative quickly, and before long, over 80 individuals volunteered to become involved in building the new organisation. Workshops were held to create a vision, mission, and infrastructure to support the volunteer-led organisation. Initial teams were created to develop programming to offer workshops in Advance Care Planning and Grief and Bereavement in both French and English.
An advisory council consisting of healthcare providers, social service agencies, and academics was created to offer guidance and support. This proved to be invaluable. To be eligible for government grants, a not-for-profit legal entity was created along with a board of directors.
Over time, new programmes were added to our offerings, along with enhanced infrastructure, including an evaluation framework and relationships with faith communities, schools, and public health agencies. A major research project called HELP (Healthy End-of-life Project) and funded by a local foundation was launched in association with Carleton University.
The pandemic forced us to change course. We offered our workshops virtually and introduced a new online webinar called Conversations with Leaders. As soon as we could return to in-person events, we hosted a city-wide celebration to honour those who had died and to mark the return to more normal community life.
145Today, we work both online and virtually. Almost all our activity is undertaken with a partner, including some within healthcare providers. Our focus on diverse communities is an asset in a city made up of residents from around the world who have chosen Canada as a place to live.
CO has earned respect and recognition throughout the community. While we are ever conscious of the challenge of financial and organisational sustainability, we remain confident that our work is contributing to the capacity of citizens to be more compassionate.
