Wishing All Mothers a Happy Mother’s Day this Weekend!

Help Us Celebrate PSW Day this Year!

Each year, on May 19 we celebrate PSW Day in Ontario. At Circle of Care, we take this opportunity to highlight the outstanding work of our PSWs. Last year, we shared stories from our clients about how their PSWs have made an impact in their lives.

This year, we want to hear from you!

Submit a selfie photo of you wearing your Circle of Care uniform (please, no client photos), and your answer to the prompt: “I’m proud to be a PSW because…”. 

Please email your submission to mduklas@circleofcare.com before May 15 if you would like to participate.

Please note that by submitting your photo/message you are consenting to having your photo shared on the Circle of Care social media channels, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and our website. If there are certain channels you are not comfortable with having your photo posted to, please let us know when you send your photo & message. Thank you for participating!

Not sure what to write? Here are some suggestions for answers:

• I’m proud to be a PSW because I love it when my clients smile after I have helped them.
• I’m proud to be a PSW because I know I’m making a difference in the lives of my clients.
• I’m proud to be a PSW because I like helping people.

Life Lessons as a Hospice Volunteer: Beryl’s Story

This week is National Hospice Palliative Care Week, a time to celebrate and share achievements of hospice palliative care throughout the nation.

Beryl is one of our 45 Hospice volunteers who have devoted their time to helping clients and their families through the challenging experience of end-of-life care.

Read Beryl’s story to learn about the lessons she has discovered as a Hospice volunteer.

Hospice and Palliative Care Support Needed More than Ever

Hospice and palliative care looks very different these days.

Read more about the ways that Circle of Care is reaching out to families of loved ones with terminal or life-limiting illnesses to provide guidance and support amid the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Champions of Care Nominations

• “Farangiz Abduvahobova has just joined the Assisted living team not too long ago. She has been very helpful in so many ways. Fara does not hesitate to reach out and help when someone is in need. Thanks Fara for helping me with my Russian calls!” – Jessica Collins
• “Jessica Collins has been extremely helpful and a pleasure to work with. Being handed a time-sensitive task, Jessica was able to provide me needed information within hours. Jessica’s organization skills, dedication, and patience has been very apparent. I really appreciate all of her hard work! I’m so grateful I get to work so closely with her!” -Julia Szpytka
• “I wanted to take a moment and express my sincere appreciation for all the efforts that Alla Sorokosh made for trying to arrange transportation for my father. He’s having surgery next week, and as part of the pre-op process, he is to have a Covid test this coming Monday. I asked Alla if the IRIDE program could accommodate the request of taking my dad to this appointment. I could see that she took every action she could. In the meantime, I was able to ask our Rabbi if a volunteer could assist with this and we are currently working on this option. In times where we there is such distress around the pandemic and how this impacts on navigating services, Alla went above and beyond in her role. She was kind, supportive and explained in detail the steps she was planning to undertake. She took the time to build rapport and answer my questions. I am filled with gratitude with the service she provided. A heart-filled thank you to her!” Client’s daughter
• “Debra McLellan and Uliana Shimla have both gone above and beyond this past week to promptly respond to new client inquiries, facilitate referrals to essential programs and support care navigation for clients, family members and caregivers. Their professionalism and level of accountability under pressure is outstanding. Thank you so much for your dedication and hard work. Our organization and community are lucky to have both of you!” – Alison Kilbourn
• “My sister and I wish to acknowledge the incredible work and dedication of our caseworker Shira Hershenfeld. She is an incredibly efficient, compassionate, energetic and caring caseworker. She truly listens and tries to help her clients in any way possible…We are forever grateful to her and her efforts and to Circle of Care for showing such compassion and understanding in these difficult times. Circle of Care is to be commended also for their tireless work to help the dwindling population of Holocaust survivors. Again, you are very fortunate to have such a dedicated, sympathetic individual working for you and we are extremely fortunate to have Shira as our caseworker.” – Holocaust Survivor Client
• “Rachel Quinby’s support of the HSSP team in the past few weeks has been outstanding. She is able to respond quickly to new tasks or assignments and enables the case managers and CSSs to do their job effectively, which provides essential support to our Holocaust Survivor clients. Thank you so much Rachel for all your hard work and keeping our program running smoothly!” – Alison Kilbourn
• “Since Kai Svirida has joined the Circle of Care team she has provided tremendous support with PSW sick time usage which was greatly appreciated by the CSS team. Now, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Kai has continues to provide invaluable assistance to our PSWs as well as the CSS team. Kai, your support and assistance is greatly appreciated and the CSS team would like to extend their thanks to you!” – CSS Team
• “I just wanted to send a quick thank you for PSW Leopoldo Fuenmayor. My mother-in-law can’t stop raving about how kind, professional and friendly Leo is and it’s all the more appreciated in this Covid world. Thank you Leo!” – Client’s son-in-law