12/30/2025
Please consider making a year-end donation today or tomorrow and you’ll help us ensure that we can continue to provide quality end-of-life care in our home-like setting. You will receive a tax receipt, and we receive your much needed support.
Last year, Joan celebrated the holidays at Jocelyn House — surrounded by love, laughter, and the warmth of family and friends.
This year, her friend Karen, a hospice volunteer, reflects on their friendship and the care that made all the difference in Joan’s final months.
In 2022, Karen was looking for a meaningful place to volunteer. When she discovered Jocelyn House, she knew she had found it. Each week, she baked treats that filled the hospice with comfort and joy, and she cherished her time with residents.
Two years later, Jocelyn House became even more special when her dear friend Joan became a resident.
Joan was a kind and generous woman who loved cooking, gardening, and cheering on her favorite sports teams. She spent many years canvassing for CancerCare, making countless friends through her warmth and kindness, including Karen!
Joan’s close circle of friends — affectionately known as “Joan’s girls” — shared countless memories: picking berries, making perogies, and watching games together. When Joan was diagnosed with cancer, those same friends surrounded her with love and care.
When Joan entered the Palliative Care Program, she was hesitant about hospice. But Karen reassured her that Jocelyn House was a place of compassion, dignity, and peace.
For two precious months, Joan lived surrounded by friendship and care. She shared her favorite recipes and gardening tips, often “supervising” Karen’s baking or chatting with friends in our cozy living room.
Joan spent her life caring for others — and at Jocelyn House that same care was returned to her. Her final days were filled with comfort, love, and community.
At Jocelyn House Hospice, residents like Joan — and their families — experience peace, dignity, and love at the end of life.
Your donation today helps us continue to add life to final days for those who deserve nothing less.
Please consider a year-end gift of care at https://www.jocelynhouse.ca/donate_now.php Together, we can ensure that no one faces the end of life alone.
Photo: Friends Gail, Joan, Val and Karen gathered in the hospice living room
