What if reframing palliative care as an early, community‑rooted approach could transform how Canadians navigate serious illness? In this episode Dr. Hsien Seow and Sheli O’Connor discuss how education, public engagement, and patient‑centered care can reduce stigma and ensure more compassionate support for patients and families.

Dr. Hsien Seow is the Canada Research Chair in Palliative Care and Health System Innovation and a Professor in the Department of Oncology at McMaster University. He is an ICES scientist who publishes health care research focused on palliative care and serious illness. He is the cohost of the Waiting Room Revolution podcast, and author of the book, Hope for the Best, Plan for the Rest.  

Sheli O’Connor’s more than 30‑year career in community‑based work has focused on educating, supporting, and empowering people to advocate for themselves within the health care system, including developing an elder abuse response network and strengthening supports for vulnerable older adults. She went on to lead a three‑year Advance Care Planning initiative and, as Director of Community Engagement for Hospice of Waterloo Region, worked to reduce stigma around dying, death, and grief through cross‑sector collaboration and public engagement. Most recently, she founded “Dying to Learn,” a consultation and project‑based business dedicated to building compassionate, community‑rooted approaches to palliative care. Guided by her conviction that “if it doesn’t happen in the community, it doesn’t happen,” Sheli focuses on building compassionate communities where people are supported where they live, work, pray, and play. She holds a Master of Social Work degree in Community Development and brings over three decades of experience collaborating with the public and community partners in creative, evidence-informed ways to strengthen collective understanding and confidence in caring for one another.  

ICES Research you heard about

ICES | Timing of palliative care, end-of-life quality indicators, and health resource utilization

ICES | Identification of the physician workforce providing palliative care in Ontario using administrative claims data

ICES | Effect of early palliative care on end-of-life healthcare costs: a population-based, propensity score-matched cohort study

ICES | Community-based specialist palliative care teams and health system costs at end of life: a retrospective matched cohort study

ICES | End-of-life outcomes with or without early palliative care: a propensity score matched, population-based cancer cohort study

EPISODE CREDITS:

Produced, edited and mixed by Will Mcintyre, Richard Villeneuve and Pop Up Podcasting
Artwork designed by Stella-Luna Ha
Music licensed through Melodie Music

LINKS:

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