Our Vision and Mission
Our Vision
Compassionate, person-centered care through the journey to end-of-life and the bereavement that follows.
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Our Mission
We are a dedicated, compassionate, person-centered team with an attitude of cultural humility. We collaborate to offer safe, accessible, inclusive, equitable, and high quality care that meets the diverse physical, spiritual, emotional, and social needs of our clients and their chosen family in a respectful and caring environment.
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Our Values
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Compassion: Fostering kindness, empathy and understanding
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Respect: Respecting each person’s vulnerability and needs
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Integrity: Commitment to engage with cultural humility and in alignment with our organizational values
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Collaboration: A collaborative team approach, providing excellence in care
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Diversity: Embracing the diversity of our community
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Honouring Life: Honouring and celebrating each person’s life
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Equity: Building positive relationships within our diverse community
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Accountability: We are accountable to our clients, to our community and to each other
Cowichan Hospice Community Services Office
Located at 3122 Gibbins Road in Duncan, the Cowichan Hospice Community Services Office is the hub of our support for individuals and families in the Cowichan region.
The History of Cowichan Hospice: Forty-five years of compassionate hospice care
Cowichan in the 1970’s: three women met in each other’s homes, in church kitchens and in small meeting rooms, discussing and planning how to provide hospice services for the community. Biddy Worsley, Anne Springford and Joan Robinson later joined forces with Jerry Rothstein from Volunteer Cowichan and, in 1981, the Cowichan Valley Hospice Society became a legal organization. From their own homes, to the basement of city hall, to our Community Services Office on Gibbins Road and to Hospice House on Cairnsmore Street, Cowichan Hospice has continued to grow and evolve over the past 45 years.​​ ​Until 2020, the Cowichan region was the only community of its size on Vancouver Island without a hospice facility. If loved ones could not receive end-of-life care at home, they had to spend their last days in a hospital. Thanks to the dedication and generosity of this community, through an $8 million capital campaign, Cowichan Hospice House was planned and built. Construction began in July of 2019 and this state-of-the-art home welcomed its first patients and families in early November of 2020, defying the odds in the midst of a pandemic.​ Today, Cowichan Hospice continues to offer services in the community as well as in Hospice House, providing support and resources to those living with an advancing illness, their caregivers, family and friends, and those grieving the death of a loved one. Services are offered by staff and volunteers in each community in the Cowichan region, free of cost. Our volunteers receive specialized training, ongoing education, and supervision so they may provide expert support to clients through their palliative and grief journeys.​