Saanich, B.C. shop promises equipment for vulnerable people in need of end-of-life support
A Saanich-based shop has committed to sourcing, supplying, and installing equipment like handrails and chairlifts for people living in shelters, supportive housing units, or wherever there is a need.
Vancouver Island Medical Supply has teamed up with the Palliative Outreach Resource Team (PORT), which provides end-of-life support to individuals in marginalized housing situations.
"So PORT will have access to some of these big-ticket items as well as some of the small stuff like pads for beds and handrails for bathrooms – and some of those things, you know, we take for granted that are additional costs at the end of life," said PORT program manager, Ashley Mollison.
For about a decade, PORT has been acting as a bridge between people with serious illness and their caregivers.
"PORT serves people that don’t necessarily have a home, don’t necessarily have support people, and have money for those additional pieces of medical equipment and supplies," said Mollison.
Now the team will be able to offer important medical equipment that will help people live out their final days in their own homes.
"A lot of times people are forced out of their homes in their communities because of a lack of equipment and supplies that allows them to age in place," said Mollison.
"So that means people end up going to long-term care or going to hospitals," she said. "So, this just increases PORT’s capacity to say, 'Hey, you need this? I have this.'"
The PORT initiative is a partnership between the University of Victoria, Island Health, Cool Aid Society, and now Vancouver Island Medical Supply.
The new partnership builds on an existing relationship with the medical supply shop.
Back in 2020, the Pacific Blue Cross Health Foundation awarded UVic’s Palliative Approaches to Care Research Program with $10,000 to help with this initiative. At that time, Vancouver Island Medical Supply also contributed $7,500.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.