Life and Death Matters

Life and Death Matters Healthcare education and resources for educators, caregivers and nurses. Supporting excellence in en

Developers of engaging, interactive, creative hospice, palliative and end-of-life care educational resources for practical nurses and personal support workers/nursing assistants. We have a particular interest in assisting practical nurses, health care workers and family caregivers and have assembled a family of educational resources for these students:

"Essentials in Hospice and Palliative Care:

A Practical Resource for Every Nurse" is tailored specifically to practical nurses learning to provide care for the dying. In Canada, we have a text "Integrating a Palliative Approach: Essentials for Personal Support Workers"
For nursing assistants and their counterparts in the USA, we have "Integrating a Palliative Approach: Essentials for Nursing Assistants"

We strive to make learning interesting and teaching easier. Which is why we developed companion workbooks, free podcasts and free videos for students, and a free Instructor's Guide to help integrate this content into core curriculum. And of course, we will come to you with face to face presentations and workshops... let's talk.

05/22/2026

🌼 Why I’m a Hospice Palliative Care Nurse - Valerie’s Story

As we continue celebrating and honouring nurses throughout May, we’re grateful to share the next video in our series featuring hospice palliative care nurses from across the country.

Today, we spotlight Valerie, Director of the Champlain Hospice Palliative Care Program, whose career has woven together bedside care, education, research, and system‑level leadership.

Valerie began her nursing journey on an oncology ward, where she quickly recognised how essential palliative care is for people living with cancer and for the families walking alongside them. She was the nurse who wanted to truly know her patients - their stories, their hopes, their fears - and to support them to live as fully as they could, for as long as they could.

In her video, Valerie reflects on how that early calling shaped her path.

Over the years, her work has expanded into education, research, and now administration, where she helps strengthen the palliative care system and equips healthcare professionals to deliver the palliative approach with confidence and compassion.

Valerie’s story is a powerful reminder that palliative care nursing happens not only at the bedside, but also in the teaching, advocating, and system‑building that make better care possible for everyone.

🎥 Hospice palliative care nurses:
We’d love to hear from you.
Share your own short video about 'why you are a hospice palliative care nurse' - upload it on the LDM website (link in comments) or add it in the comments below.

🌼Celebrating Our PSW Nominations for the Frances Montgomery Personal Support Worker Hospice Palliative Care AwardToday, ...
05/21/2026

🌼Celebrating Our PSW Nominations for the Frances Montgomery Personal Support Worker Hospice Palliative Care Award

Today, we’re honoured to spotlight Shantal George from Dorothy Ley Hospice.

From her colleagues’ nomination:
“She often provides comfort to both our residents and their caregivers, striving to make every day meaningful - whether by taking someone outside for fresh air, decorating a room for a special occasion, or advocating for favourite meals. She also encourages caregivers to practice self‑care, recognising its importance in holistic support.”

Shantal’s work reflects the heart of hospice palliative care - thoughtful, attentive, and deeply person‑centred. Her ability to create moments of meaning, while supporting both residents and their caregivers, embodies the compassion and presence at the core of this award.

More nominee spotlights coming soon as we count down to announcing this year’s award recipient.

05/20/2026

🌼 Why I’m a Hospice Palliative Care Nurse - Kath’s Story

As we continue celebrating and honouring nurses throughout May, today we share a story from Kath Murray, Hospice Palliative Care Nurse, Educator, Author, and CEO of Life and Death Matters.

"I often say that I came to hospice palliative care nursing as a child. Long before I was a nurse, long before I set foot in a hospice, I seemed to be drawn to the things that others quietly avoided. As a child, a friend's brother died, and an older man in our community died - I must have reached out, because the families reached back and expressed gratitude. Something in me already knew: this was where I belonged.

My aunt Frankie showed me that caring for the sick and dying is everyone's responsibility. She lived this out as a nurse at work and as a compassionate member of her community. Sometimes she arrived with a casserole, often with custard, and always with a willingness to be present - to listen, to sit with, to advocate for the dying person and their family. Through her, I saw the depth of the need, and the call to respond.

When I began working at Victoria Hospice in my thirties, I discovered the incredible gift of team - of people working together to address symptoms, attend to the whole person, and help someone live well in their dying. It was extraordinary work.

And then I would leave. I would walk out into the rain and the wind, feel it on my face, and give thanks - for my body, for my health, for the ordinary miracle of another day. I would come home to my children knowing, with a depth that is hard to explain, that life and fulfillment are not about designer clothes or fancy houses. They are about relationships. About finding meaning. I had been taught this by masters - the people I cared for, who shared their life's wisdom in their most vulnerable moments.

Those sacred conversations — sometimes in the middle of the night, always at the edge of what matters most - are what I loved most about being a hospice palliative care nurse. And today, through education, I get to help others find their way into those moments too.

That is why I came to this work. And why I stay."

Kath’s story is a reminder that hospice palliative care is not just a profession. It is a calling rooted in presence, meaning, and the sacred conversations that happen at the edge of what matters most.

🎥 Hospice palliative care nurses:
We’d love to hear from you.
Share your own short video about why you are a hospice palliative care nurse - upload it on the LDM website (link in comments) or add it in the comments below.

Personal Support Workers deserve training that builds confidence, competence, and emotional readiness because the work t...
05/20/2026

Personal Support Workers deserve training that builds confidence, competence, and emotional readiness because the work they do is skilled, relational, and profoundly human. PACE for PSWs was created with that reality at its core.

It strengthens the everyday skills that define excellent palliative care:
🩵 Listening with presence
🩵 Noticing subtle changes
🩵 Supporting dignity and comfort
🩵 Communicating with clarity and compassion

These aren’t “soft skills” they’re the backbone of quality care. And PSWs tell us that PACE helps them feel more prepared, more grounded, and more confident in the moments that matter most.

Whether you’re a PSW, an educator, or a care leader, PACE offers a practical, skills‑based pathway to better care and stronger teams.

👉 Explore PACE for PSWs

🌼 One Week to Go: Palliative Care Everywhere – Caring for the Grief of Those Who CareWe’re just one week away from our u...
05/19/2026

🌼 One Week to Go: Palliative Care Everywhere – Caring for the Grief of Those Who Care

We’re just one week away from our upcoming webinar, a conversation for the people who show up every day in palliative care, long‑term care, home care, and education.

This session will explore the grief caregivers carry, the emotional labour embedded in care work, and what it means to build more grief‑literate teams. Participants will come away with a deeper understanding of:

- How caregiver grief shows up in daily practice
- Why grief literacy strengthens teams, workplaces, and communities
- Practical, team‑based approaches to supporting one another
- Ways to integrate a public‑health approach to grief into care settings

Led by Dr. Mary Ellen Macdonald and Dr. Susan Cadell, this webinar is an opportunity to pause, reflect, and strengthen the emotional foundations of care.

💛 One week to go - we hope you’ll join us.

👉 Register here: link in comments

🌼 Honouring Personal Support Workers: PSW Day 2026Today on PSW Day, we celebrate the Personal Support Workers who bring ...
05/19/2026

🌼 Honouring Personal Support Workers: PSW Day 2026

Today on PSW Day, we celebrate the Personal Support Workers who bring compassion, skill, and presence to people and families across Canada. PSWs are at the heart of long‑term care, home care, and hospice, offering dignity, comfort, and connection on some of life’s hardest days.

Their work is essential and deeply human. Listening, noticing, supporting. PSWs make care possible.

At Life and Death Matters, we’re honoured to support PSWs through palliative care training and resources that strengthen confidence, emotional readiness, and the skills that define excellent care.

To every PSW: thank you for the difference you make every day.

đź’› Happy PSW Day 2026.

05/18/2026

🌼Why I’m a Hospice Palliative Care Nurse - Carolyn’s Story

As we continue celebrating and honouring nurses throughout May, we’re grateful to share the next video in our series featuring hospice palliative care nurses from across the country.

Today, we spotlight Carolyn, a Clinical Nurse Specialist at Northumberland Hills Hospital in Cobourg, Ontario, a Legacy Coordinator with Viive Planning, and a Registered Nurse who has supported many hospices across her career.

In her video, Carolyn shares why palliative care nursing is the work of her heart.

She speaks about the privilege of walking alongside individuals and families through some of life’s most sacred moments - supporting not only physical comfort, but the mental, personal, and emotional parts of a person’s journey. For Carolyn, palliative care is about relieving symptoms, regulating emotions, and being present with people from diagnosis through end of life.

She describes feeling deeply honoured to do this work, collaborating with families and interdisciplinary teams to ensure that every person is cared for with dignity, compassion, and respect. Her message is a powerful reminder of the humanity at the centre of the palliative approach.

🎥 Hospice palliative care nurses:
We’d love to hear from you.
Share your own short video about 'why you are a hospice palliative care nurse' - upload it on the LDM website (link in comments) or add it in the comments below.

05/18/2026

🌿 Tiara Sisson on the EdUp Canada Podcast

Life and Death Matters President Tiara Sisson joined the EdUp Canada podcast to talk about something close to our hearts: the urgent need for strong palliative care education and the role our training materials play in preparing PSWs, HCAs, and continuing care professionals for real‑world care.

Tiara speaks about the value of skills‑based training, the very real funding pressures facing Canada’s career college sector, and why the stakes have never been higher for getting palliative care education right. She highlights how our training materials help learners build not just competence, but confidence, developing the emotional intelligence, presence, and listening skills that define excellent care, especially in long‑term care and hospice settings.

Her message is clear: stay informed, stay engaged, and recognise the importance of preparing a workforce ready to care with compassion.

🎧 Read our blog and listen to the conversation: Link in comments

05/15/2026

🌼 Why I’m a Hospice Palliative Care Nurse - Christina’s Story

As we continue celebrating National Nursing Week and honouring nurses throughout May, we’re grateful to share the first video in our new series featuring hospice palliative care nurses from across the country.

Today, we spotlight Christina, an Inpatient Oncology and Palliative Care Registered Nurse, who shares why this work matters so deeply to her.

In her video, Christina reflects on the belief that guides her practice:
every person deserves dignity, comfort, and compassion through every stage of life.

For her, hospice palliative care is about helping people live as fully and meaningfully as possible, not just in their final days, but in every moment that matters. She speaks about the importance of advocacy, human connection, and taking a holistic approach to care that honours the whole person and their family.

Christina’s message is a beautiful reminder of the heart of the palliative approach and the profound impact nurses make every day.

🎥 Hospice palliative care nurses:
We’d love to hear from you.
Share your own short video about why you are a hospice palliative care nurse - upload it on the LDM website (link in comments) or add it in the comments below.

To all nurses: thank you for the compassion, presence, and skill you bring to this work. We are honoured to walk alongside you.

05/14/2026

🌼 Honouring Hospice Palliative Care Nurses This National Nursing Week

This National Nursing Week and throughout the month of May, Life and Death Matters is honoured to celebrate the hospice palliative care nurses who bring compassion, presence, and deep humanity to every person and family they support.

🎥 Hospice palliative care nurses:
Share a short video telling us 'why you are a hospice palliative care nurse'.
You can upload it directly on the LDM website (link in comments) or post it in the comments below.

Your stories matter. They honour the profession, inspire future nurses, and remind all of us why this work is so essential.

To every hospice palliative care nurse: thank you for your skill, your presence, and the compassion you bring to the hardest moments in people’s lives. We see you, we appreciate you, and we are grateful to be working alongside you.

Earlier I shared an opinion piece from the Toronto Star that names something we see every day in palliative care: our nu...
05/13/2026

Earlier I shared an opinion piece from the Toronto Star that names something we see every day in palliative care: our nurses and frontline care providers are giving everything and the systems around them aren't giving enough back.

So I want to also share this.

TEND Academy's CARE4YOU 2026 conference is exactly the kind of response that matters. A free, online event on June 12, 2026 (9 AM – 3 PM ET), bringing together leading voices on caregiver wellbeing, compassion fatigue, and sustainable practice.

And I want to take a moment to recognize the remarkable Françoise Mathieu, Executive Director of TEND - one of this year's featured speakers. Françoise has been a collaborator and inspiration to us at Life and Death Matters, and her fingerprints are on the self-care sections of our own resources. She has spent her career championing the wellbeing of those who care for others, and we are deeply grateful for her work and her friendship.

If you care for others, register. It's free. 👉 https://f.mtr.cool/jlxbuqtfxj

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