Season Six - Episode Five - The Hospice at Glengarda

The final days and moments of a person’s life can be uncomfortable subjects for people to think about, let alone discuss with others. But what I discovered by spending a morning at the Hospice at Glengarda, Saskatchewan’s first stand-alone hospice, is that there is so much room for light, laughter and gratitude when the end is near. 

What I also discovered is how much work it takes from very dedicated and caring staff to ensure those streams of light make their way into the hospice. 

You are about to meet some of those people as we take you inside the Hospice at Glengarda.

In January of 2021, the Hospice at Glengarda opened on a quiet residential street in Saskatoon’s exhibition neighbourhood. The hospice has 15 private rooms and is designed for patients requiring end-of-life care. 

The story of how the Hospice went from idea to reality is really amazing and one we covered a few weeks ago in a bonus episode of the podcast featuring Lecina Hicke, CEO of the St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation. I strongly encourage you to give it a listen if you haven’t done so already as Lecina tells the story so well. 

Now, I must admit that before I stepped foot in the Hospice at Glengarda, in my mind, this was going a very serious and perhaps solemn interview because we were going to be talking about death and dying. Well, that quickly changed when I met Robin Stahl, Kristin Hubic and Monique Blom. As I mentioned earlier, there is so much light and energy and laughter in this space and I feel so grateful to have spoken with Robin, Kristin and Monique together as they have amazing chemistry.

They gave my photographer and friend, Molly Schikosky, and I a tour of the Hospice and made us feel so welcomed. 

I maybe asked five or six questions over the span of our two hours together which is wonderful because, as you are about to hear, they fed off of each-other’s energy and traded stories with one-another that illustrate the importance and significance of their work. 

The tour they gave us was very unique. They wanted to place us in the shoes of a person who was arriving into the Hospice, which is why Monique asked if I would lay down on the floor of the back entrance. That’s because when a person arrives to the Hospice, they enter on a stretcher through the back door. As you will hear, this back entrance is a very unique space. 

From there, we visit one of the spa rooms, the main floor kitchen and the smudge room. We weren’t able to go inside of the patient rooms as they were all full but we do talk about what the rooms look like and why paying attention to the little things in so important to patients and families. 

A big thank you to Robin, Kristin, Monique and the entire team at the Hospice at Glengarda for making time for us and making us feel so welcomed in their space. I know you will enjoy this episode. 

Please feel free to leave a 5-star review if you like what you hear!

A big thank you Rob Rongve and his team at RBC Dominion Securities in North Battleford for supporting this episode. 

Thank you for continuing to support a local, independent podcast!

Cheers...Eric 

• Host, Producer, Editor: Eric Anderson
• Theme Music: Andrew Dickson
• Website: https://www.yxeunderground.com
• Recorded: On Treaty 6 Territory and the traditional homeland of the Metis