A place to celebrate life,
no matter how short.
The Maritimes remains one of the only regions in Canada without access to a children’s hospice.
Every year, more than 160 children in the Maritimes die, and thousands more live with serious illnesses. These children and their families deserve more than medical care—they deserve comfort, dignity, and the chance to create lasting memories. A dedicated children’s hospice can make this possible. Together, we can give these families the care they need—and the memories they’ll hold forever.
The Maritime Children’s Hospice will offer exceptional palliative care for children with serious illnesses, including both pediatric and perinatal support. This specialty program will be an extension of the IWK Pediatric Palliative Care service- known as the Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT). We are devoted to nurturing the quality of life for children facing serious illnesses, cherishing their comfort, honoring their dignity, and helping to foster moments of joy throughout their journey.
“The Maritime Children’s Hospice will be the first of its kind in the Maritimes. Although we all hope to never need it, until you are the family that does, you can’t imagine the comfort and solace it will provide to those in need. A blessing for so many families.”
Jennie and Andrew Huskilson — Donors and bereaved parents of daughter Carmen
What is Pediatric Palliative Care?
Pediatric palliative care is an active and total approach to care provided to children with serious illnesses and their families from the time of diagnosis, throughout the child’s life, at the time of death and beyond into bereavement. It includes management of symptoms, provision of medical respite care, coordination of services, delivery of end-of-life care and provision of grief and bereavement support.
The IWK Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT) provides specialized pediatric palliative care to children and families affected by serious illness that live in the Maritime provinces with outreach support to Newfoundland. The IWK PACT is a small and mighty service, however, has not experienced any growth in resources while the population of children and the demand for specialty pediatric palliative care education and support has grown substantially since the program began in 1995.
The Maritimes remains one of the only regions in Canada without access to a children’s hospice as part of the many services available to families that benefit from pediatric palliative care.
The expansion of the current IWK PACT to include a community-based children’s hospice that offers symptom assessment and management admissions, medical respite care, outreach telehealth care, end of life care and various specialized grief programs would drastically improve the care and support these children, their families and the communities that care for them deserve.
Get in touch
For more information, or if you would like to make a donation, please fill out the form below and we will get in touch.
We respectfully acknowledge that the land on which we live, and work is the traditional, unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people. We recognize the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” and wish to express our gratitude and respect to the First Peoples who share their ancestral homelands with us all. We are all treaty people.
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