As a four-year-old, Jennifer Lund wasn’t sure why her mother returned from the hospital without her baby brother.
It was because her mother, Peggy Lund, had given birth to a still-born, full-term baby boy.
Jennifer remembers the confusion that ensued and subsequently feeling afraid that the same fate would befall her twin sisters when her mother became pregnant again.
The Kawartha Lakes resident was at Couchiching Beach Park Sunday morning to walk in the Hike for Hospice Orillia to show support for her mother, who now organizes the Pregnancy & Infant Loss Outreach of North Simcoe Muskoka (PILO NSM) program out of Hospice Orillia.
“I came originally to hospice as a client seeking bereavement support after I'd lost the baby,” said Peggy. “I soon discovered that there was no support that I could find, just someone with lived experience I could talk to.”
The experience was horrible and isolating, said the Washago resident. She didn't know who to turn to.
“I even went back to work after three months of maternity leave, but no one there talked about it either,” said Peggy. “They just pretended it never happened.”
She said people may are not sure how to talk about the death of a baby.
“They may also be afraid to say something that might bring it up and hurt the person who has suffered the loss,” said Peggy.
Even though she couldn’t use the hospice bereavement services herself, she said it gave her purpose to start the PILO NSM program, which begins with an open house on Oct. 2.
The program will provide support to people suffering this type of loss, said Peggy. People who have friends going through this tough time can direct them to the Hospice Orillia program.
And to offer support in terms of words, she said, “Acknowledge the loss, don't pretend it didn't happen. They don't want to hide from it. They want to talk about it," she explained.
"They want their child to have some meaning in life. It's really hard to know what to say, but you have to say something.”
The Hike for Hospice Orillia has been happening for the last 18 years, said Whitney Vowels, director of operations, Palliative Care Network and Hospice Orillia.
For the last three years, she said, the hospice has been working in collaboration with Mariposa House Hospice.
“It's really to support the community programs as well as the residential hospice that's coming to Orillia,” said Vowels. “We're excited to be in partnership with them once again.”
With more than 100 walkers, this year’s hike had already raised $28,000 before a final tally is completed later in the week.
All of the funds raised in this community stay in this community giving people access to free end-of-life and palliative care, as well as grief and bereavement programs, in addition to in-house visiting hospice service.
“It's an excellent opportunity for both of our hospices to build awareness in the community about what hospice care is all about,” said Erika Catford, co-chair Mariposa House Hospice, which is a five-bed residential hospice planned to open next year.
“I think it rounds out our community care,” she said. “We would love to support everybody in their homes, but we know that's not possible for everybody to do.
"We just know that creating a physical place for people at end of life is so important, as we've seen in neighbouring communities who already have their residential hospices up and running,” said Catford.
Mariposa Hospice House has partial financial support from the provincial and municipal governments for help for the hospice operations, said Catford, but there's lots of fundraising still to be done.
And that's why Mariposa Hospice House joined hands with Hospice Orillia, so they could also raise awareness for their $3.5 million capital campaign, she said.
“It truly takes a village to build a hospice,” said Catford. “It has just been the most rewarding project I've worked on. The community response has been incredible.”
