Jennifer Pass

Special to the Record

A home away from home

Many of us in the North Island love to take recreational trips to Victoria or even Nanaimo.

Then there are the 鈥渙ther鈥� trips 鈥� the ones for medical reasons. The pilgrimage from town to city may be dreaded, braced for, or coupled with some visiting or enjoyable planned activity. It is more and more common for seniors to have to make this trip, daunting though it can become as we age. (A friend recently, who had a medical appointment in Victoria to arrange a surgery, but who does not have a driver鈥檚 licence, organized another friend to drive her, and a hotel for them to stay in, only to be told - several hundred dollars poorer - that the specialist would not do the surgery.)

Another friend and her husband recently went to Victoria for a heart procedure. They stayed at 鈥淗eart House,鈥� and were very impressed with the practical and emotional support they received. Ken says, 鈥淚t was so close to Jubilee Hospital, I could walk there in 10 minutes.鈥� Alison added, 鈥淲e met several couples who are going through the same procedure, or who went through it a few years ago and are now here for a follow-up procedure.鈥�

Part of the success of the Heart House experience can be credited to the success of the work of the cardiac team at Jubilee. Heart problems seem to be on a continuum. Perhaps an 鈥渆lectro-cardiogram鈥� (resetting the internal ticker) this year, and a few years later an angioplasty 鈥� an amazing procedure where little cages (stents) are put in the coronary arteries to keep the flow going back to the heart.

So, as Alison says, the sharing of stories is part of what makes Heart House a great place to stay when one is feeling isolated before, and during, one鈥檚 significant other鈥檚 heart procedure. Also, there is a lovely spacious kitchen, with lots of fridge space available for guests. There is a comfy large living room, and a little quiet library, for reading or praying or doing one鈥檚 computer work.

The Heart House staff prepares breakfast for guests. This provides an opportunity to ask, 鈥淲here are you from鈥� and to chat in a relaxed way with the staff person and those you know are on a similar journey. The staff are knowledgeable and able to provide much helpful information.

Sometimes the conversation with other guests is intentionally not on heart issues, sometimes the sharing gets deeper. There is compassion that flowers when fears and concerns are shared. There is also a quiet compassion that knows when not to ask.

No one wants to take a Victoria trip that is not about Butchart Gardens, whale watching, taking in a play or concert, or even just walking the sea wall and loving the wind. But sometimes we have no choice, and the trip is for medical reasons.

Places like Heart House make these stressful trips so much more an embrace than an endurance.

(Jennifer Pass is the co-ordinator of Comox Valley Elders Take Action)