Update: January 20, 2025
Please see the message below from the Board Chairs of
Hospice Waterloo Region and the Lisaard & Innisfree Hospice.
As you know, eight months ago, we announced that the Boards of Hospice Waterloo Region (HWR) and Lisaard & Innisfree Hospice (LIH) had voted to enter phase one of exploring the possibility of becoming one hospice organization that would serve the whole region.
Since that time, we have listened closely to the important feedback from our community, donors, staff, and volunteers. The leadership teams of both organizations have also spent meaningful time together, collaborating on how we might better serve our region. We know that staff and volunteers also contributed greatly to the creation of the unified vision for hospices. For your contributions we are deeply grateful.
Phase I work has concluded and after much consideration the unification process will not continue. We remain committed to our missions and to providing the exceptional end-of-life care we are known for, supporting families through that journey and providing ongoing excellent care and support to the community through our programs and services.
On behalf of our Board of Directors, we thank you for your contributions through this process and for your unwavering support of the important work we do. We are so incredibly grateful for your ongoing confidence in our vision.
With gratitude for your support,
Linda Brooks
Chair
Board of Directors
Hospice Waterloo Region
Chris Kotseff
Chair
Board of Directors
Lisaard and Innisfree Hospice
Although Hospice Waterloo Region is disappointed that unification is not proceeding, know that we will take what we have learned about ourselves and our community’s hopes for the future to move forward in providing and further enhancing hospice care for our Region.
May 2024
Enhancing Services For People In Our Community
Recently, the Boards of Directors of Hospice Waterloo Region and Lisaard & Innisfree Hospice voted to explore the possibility of becoming one hospice organization that would serve the whole region. The goal of exploration is to determine whether together we would be able to further enhance services for people in our communities.
This possibility emerged from conversations that the Boards have been having for the past year. In these discussions the opportunities
- to create a more unified voice
- decrease confusion in the community
- improve capacity
- use resources more effectively
were all drivers in moving to explore this possibility.
Opportunities to improve our service and our capacity as well as use our resources more effectively are ones we are interested in pursuing. This is a natural progression in a dialogue we have been having Board-to-Board for the past year. We are excited about taking this next step in exploration.
Our Boards are driven by providing the best hospice care for the Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo region. We believe this exploration will help us determine whether we can do this better as one organization. We look forward to learning more about one another through this exploration phase.
Continued Excellence in Care & Support
While we go through this initial phase of exploration, our programming, and services will remain the same. The community can expect continued excellent care and support.
We are committed to keeping people informed and engaged throughout this process and welcome any questions, feedback, or ideas you may have.