Living Palliative care st THE TERMINALLY-ILL patient doing the Charlesion in the palliative care unit at the Lions Gate Hospital is one rea- son its staff opposes cuthana- sia. By Kate Zimmerman News Reporter Dr. Werner Boldt remembers the man well. His spirit had slumped, He was “grouchy and uncommu- nicative” until Halloween, when a belly-dancer arrived and revved him up enough to respond with a litle dance of his own. Ina festive mood, donned a balloon bai. The man died three days later, said Boldt. But the kind of happi- ness he experienced that night sup- ports the staff's conviction that its » Work. as coordinator | Susan “S Hogman said, “is about living.” \.The palliative care program, seid . head nurse Diane Lec. is “active, * -compassionate care for the termi- “nally HL” [Us “symptom treaiment™ that includes pain management and tending to the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the patient who is dying. “The average person, like you cr me, will say “1 den’t mind dying ; but I don’t want 10 suffer," said “Boldt. ; i. Palliative care coordinator and -social’ worker Susan Hogman ‘agrees. “Most people, when they define suffering, they define it as physical pain,” she said. "We are Specialists i in pain management.” * During a meeting with the News “in a staff room at Lions Gate, Lee, Hogman and Boidt said they were saddened by the choice of Sue Rodriguez, the North Saanich - woman who died by doctor-assisted Suicide Feb. 12. She chose not to continue living with. the degenera-: “tive.nerve discase most commonly ~ known _as Lou Gehrig's: ‘Weather Saturday: periods of rain high 8°C. low 3°C ” Canadian Publications Mait Sales . Product Agreement Number 0087238 CALL US: ac 2208 he even ail taff champion the j Joys of life that remain for the terminally ill NEWS photo Mike Waketleld NURSE DIANE Lee and Dr. Werner Boldt recently discussed doctor-assisted suicide in the after- math of the Sue Rodriguez death. Lee and Boldt work in the palliative care unit at Lions Gate Hospital. “There's such a thing as cele- brating life ..." said Boldt. “You don't know what the next seven days could have brought” Boldt said he has been asked by some terminally-ill patients to kill them. He declined, but told them they have. the power to end their lives themselves if they wish. Boldt said almost no one does. In fact, he describes euthanasia as “a useless modality of treatment that we don’t need.” “I's extremely rare to see some- one who really” wants to dic, said Hogman. “For the most part. people who come in here want to live so very, very badly.” They are still capable of appreci- ating the efforts others make to cheer then up. An ensemble made up of doctors comes in once a year and blasts jazz through the corri- dors. Leé remembers one paticnt who enjoyed the music so irich, he invited the musiciar his room fora “shot” and a visit. He died the next day. “If they can hive one time like that ... that's what their family will remember,” said Hopman. Terminally-ill patients have married in the hospital chapel. and honeymooned in rooms on the ward decorated by nurses. The children of dying patients have held their weddings at Lions Gate also. so their parents could be present. “It's indescribable to see the joy that (dying) people can have,” said Hogman. Families who have been estranged occasionally get recon- nected in the face of impending Joss. Boldt recalled one elderly male paticnt telling-bim that he and his wife talked more done in the previous 20 years. Of the 200 patients the palliative: cure program treats each year. 52% go home again, and many are in and out of the unit five or six times over the course of a couple. of years. “We've got patients on. mor- phine who drive to work every day.” said Boldt. after he was. admitied te the ward than they jiad A NORTH Vancouver teenager helped keep Canada’s Olympic hockey hopes alive on ‘Wednesday after scoring the exciting overtime goai against the Czech Republic. Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter ‘Paul Kariya, 19, did not besitate when he fired the . puck between the Czech goulie’s pads afier a Brad Werenka shot had been blocked. . Petr Nedved had won.the face-off that fed to the goal, Canada’s 3-2 victory moves the team into the semi- ~ final medal round, : Canada plays the tough team from Finland today. Kariya’s mother Shaton said Thursday from her North Vancouver home that it was exciting news to have her son score the winning goal, but the win was a - teani effort. “His goal has always been to play for the Olympics. Do you support the idea of building a Deep Cove seawalk? » Alec Mitchell Deep Cove Gloria McDonald North Vancouver District ‘ft was important for him to play. for his country,” “said Kariya, She ‘said ‘different players have come Up big for the underdog Canadian team. She added that she talked to her son twice before the LS Czech game: “IT jokingly asked-him if he had met the king of» Norway yet, and he said, ‘No, but I met‘the Jamaican ° bobsted team." He thought that was pretty good.” Paul Kariya has play: ved for the Burnaby Winter Club and Penticton Panthers. ‘He is currently attending the University of Maine, 7 and was drafted fourth overall by: the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the NHL’s 1993 draft. Kariya attended Plymouth elementary and Argyle secondary in North Vancouver before graduating from high school in Penticton. At Plymouth on Wednesday. Kariya's goal was announced over the school's public-address system to Tiotgus cheering from the student population, including one of Paul's brothers, Martin, who is currently enrolled in the school. Debbie Denardo North Vancouver District - 1 strongly support the idea of a sea- walk being built. Those guys down there dan’t own the waterfront — we all do. {1's time we had access. There are many tecnagers wha have nothing to do and a seawalk will not help them: The money should be spent ona skating rink, . ‘along the waterfront can put up with a seawalk in their area, we cer- tainly can in Deep Cove. 1 at, THIS WEEK’S QUESTION: If the West Van people living, ISSUE REVIEW NOT EVERYONE at Lions Gate is as compietely- opposed to the concept of doctor-assisted suicide as the palliative care staff, . Dr. Stewart Madili, vice-president of medical | und diagnostic services, ;. notes that Lions Gate docs: not endorse doctor-assisted’ suicide, which is Mega. >; *. But, he said, “4 think it -is an issue that obviously | needs review.’ Madill does not practise’: medicine any more.-but his experience | asa family does? ‘tor has‘given him. some: insight | into the Suffering ” ‘that terminally, il patients. _ experience. : #Oita' personal level, E. . think Ihave a great deal-of:: : yma for that situa- Yet the people whe work in pal- liative care are frequently asked how uiey can stand tending to the dying, day in, day out.."We stand it, because we see the joysind the sor- rows,” said Hogman. “We're seeing them through the most intense time , iu their lives.” In the past year, the program has seen three patients with the same discase. that afflicted Sue. Kodriguéz. One of them is « former . colleague of Boldt’s. “She is a fighter to the last. She can barely communicate, except with her eyes,” he said. “These peo- ple are fighters — they wouldn't dream of saying, ‘Put me to sleep.” - They would think it was an insult.” ‘ariya helps Canada cancel Czechs NORTH VANCOUVER District Council voted 6-1-on Feb, 7 against a - proposal io establish a,;community task force that would have considered community-wide wishes celating to use of the district's foreshore lands. There will be ne seawalk in Deep Cove in the foresceable' future. Kent Daley Deep Cove I definitely do not want a Deep Cove seawalk built and I live in Deep Cove. Do you have praise for, or problems with, the recent federal budget?