N.S. palliative care group will co-ordinate support for people grieving after mass shooting
CBC
An established palliative care organization is set to offer a new approach to bereavement services for people affected by the mass shooting in northern Nova Scotia nearly four years ago.
The non-profit Nova Scotia Hospice Palliative Care Association (NSHPCA) will work with community organizations and Nova Scotia Health to design and deliver care in Colchester County, East Hants and Cumberland County.
"We will never forget it. We will never be without it. However, there is the opportunity to do some really good work and help individuals learn how to deal with it as part of their lives," Alana Hirtle of the Rotary Club of Truro said Friday.
"Hopeful, is where we are."
In April 2020, a gunman driving a mock RCMP cruiser killed 22 people across northern Nova Scotia, including many of his neighbours in Portapique.
The Mass Casualty Commission that led the public inquiry into the shooting recommended that the federal and provincial governments fund a program to address residents' unmet needs for mental health, grief and bereavement support.
The two-year, $2.3-million project will start in the northern region and then extend to the rest of Nova Scotia in 2025. It comes out of an $18-million fund from the provincial and federal governments announced last spring.
Hirtle said she's hopeful that besides grief and bereavement — which are vital — the services will approach mental health with trauma-based methods.
"There should be no cookie-cutter approach to this situation because grief and trauma are an individual experience and not everyone handles it the same way or processes it the same way," Hirtle said.
NSHPCA president Ann Cosgrove said that's exactly what her group plans to do. They will pull together both new and existing grief services, and listen to what else people need.
"The long term is what we're looking at, not the immediate Band-Aid piece," Cosgrove said.
The province said it has already made investments in the northern region, including 23 new positions at Nova Scotia Health in outreach, promotion, public engagement and specialists in grief and bereavement.
There are also mobile health clinics, featuring health professionals like nurses and an emotional wellness navigator. Eight community health boards also saw funding increased to provide suicide prevention training, grief workshops and rural internet access programs.
A new transportation pilot project offering free rides for people to get to non-urgent health and wellness appointments is also in place. The province said the program has received more than 1,000 requests since it launched in August.
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