About us
The Alberta Hospice Palliative Care Association (AHPCA) is a charitable organization that serves as the voice for hospice palliative care in the province. For the past 30 years, AHPCanada has promoted, supported and advocated for comprehensive and quality hospice palliative care for all Albertans.
The AHPCanada Roadshow, now in its twelfth year, is an annual series of full-day workshops developed in response to an identified need for palliative care training throughout Alberta. Well over 3,000 Albertans have attended the AHPCanada Roadshow including professionals, volunteers, caregivers, patients and interested community members. During the pandemic, the Roadshow has gone online to comply with public health measures.
AHPCA’s You’re Not Alone – Grief Connection is a new program that offers one-to-one telephone support. Volunteers are matched with grieving individuals to provide long-term support in a relationship that can last up to a year.
Living Every Season is a new AHPCanada program that provides support for Albertans navigating a palliative illness. The safe, confidential social setting allows participants to be authentic, feel less isolated and be part of an empathetic community.
AHPCA’s annual Imagine conference brings together representatives from the province’s hospice palliative care societies for a day of learning and networking, with the intention of creating a robust, well-informed palliative care community in Alberta. Imagine has not been held during the pandemic.
AHPCanada facilitates the Jean Stone Scholarship, an educational scholarship for palliative care volunteers. AHPCA’s Dr. Donna Wilson Caregiver Award recognizes the vital contribution of unpaid palliative caregivers across Alberta.
AHPCA’s advocacy inspired Bill C-220, An Act to amend the Canada Labour Code (bereavement leave), which became law in June 2021. In a letter to Alberta’s federal and provincial representatives, AHPCanada highlighted the lack of bereavement leave for caregivers after their loved one dies. After meeting with AHPCA, an Alberta Member of Parliament sponsored a private member’s bill based on this issue. The new law gives 10 days of bereavement leave following the death of a loved one to all Canadian employees whose job falls under the Canada Labour Code.