The 100 Mile and District Hospice Palliative Care Society's new executive director, Caren Henderson, brings a wealth of experience to the table.
Henderson has spent the first few months of 2025 settling into her new role at hospice. A trained end-of-life doula, Henderson joins hospice after an extensive career working for the military, in the medical field and for various other companies, primarily in logistics. So far, she has loved her new role with hospice.
"I love this job. I love the volunteers. Honestly, everyone in the hospital has been incredible, and we're very unique here in 100 Mile, because we're the only hospice society that's under the same roof as acute and palliative, as the community nurses," Henderson noted.
From a young age, Henderson said she had experience doing the work she now does for hospice. Growing up in the town of Enfield, Nova Scotia, she was the youngest of six children and offered comfort to sick or dying relatives several times.
"When people in our family were sick, we would take turns going in with them and sitting with them until they passed. So it's something that I've been doing for a really long time," Henderson explained.
After graduating from high school, Henderson joined the military, where she was primarily in charge of the logistics for Canadian Forces bases in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. This experience would serve her well as she left the military and moved to British Columbia to take a job with the Ministry of Forests as a fire prevention technician, following a brief stint studying rehabilitation services at Mount Royal College.
"I could take out fire crews and put out forest fires, which I did for eight years, and I mainly did that in the Lower Mainland," Henderson said, noting she worked for the Ministry of Forests for 15 years.
After a bout with cancer, she left the ministry to take care of herself, later working for Shoppers Home Healthcare, B.C. Hydro and Handicare. Eventually, Henderson left Abbotsford to move up to 100 Mile House to be closer to her eldest son and his family.
Before the opportunity to work for hospice came up, Henderson had planned on offering her services as an end-of-life doula. She noted that 100 Mile House has an ageing population, so she felt her services would be needed. As Hospice's executive director, her primary role is to help coordinate and facilitate the work of volunteers and employees who make up hospice.
"Every morning, I'll attend the acute care rounds, and I'll sit in with the nurses, and they'll let us know how the patients are doing," Henderson said. "They'll let us know if a patient would like a volunteer to go in and visit with them, depending on how the patient's doing - if they've been deemed pallative, that means they've only got a limited amount of time left, and myself or one of the volunteers, might go in and introduce ourselves to the family and offer any services that we have."
Henderson said they prepare families for anticipatory grief, which she describes as "what they're going to be going through, and how they're going to be feeling, and different things as a family, or as a person who maybe just the only caregiver."
"We introduce ourselves. If you ever need anything, here's our number. Anytime you need to talk, we're always here," Henderson explained.
In addition, as the client nears the end of their life, the hospice society offers their families bereavement packages, as well as grief support groups.
"Normally, when someone's been referred to us either from the acute, the community, or community nurses, then we'll contact the family and see if there's anything we can offer, and if there is, we'll basically follow that person or family for a year," Henderson said. She also adds that she usually meets with the community nurses, workers, doctors and staff to talk about how best to support the clients in the community.
Henderson's main focus as executive director this year is recruiting more volunteers to help run hospice's programs, especially volunteers willing to sit with clients until they pass.
"One of the other things that people do is we call sitting with - and that's where volunteers will go and sit with the person until they pass. But right now, we've only got four people that are trained and willing to do that, because it's something you have to have a unique skill set to be able to do and be comfortable," Henderson explained.
To sign up for the 100 Mile Hospice Society as a volunteer, Henderson encourages people to contact her at 250-395-7680.
