NURSING WEEK
Registered nurse Peggy Dickie makes Ian Anderson House, a palliative cancer care facility in Oakville, feel like home
MODERN-DAY NIGHTINGALES Honouring the best of nursing in Ontario
Peggy Dickie’s infectious smile rubs everyone the right way, and if care, commitment and compassion are contagious, that’s a very good thing.
Especially at Ian Anderson House (IAH), an Oakville palliative cancer care facility that never ceases to amaze new residents and their families, who see a hospice can be a bright, cheerful and life-celebrating environment.
“It’s such an inviting, homelike setting,” said Dickie, lead home co-ordinator at IAH and the 2017 Nightingale Award recipient in the 34th year of her nursing career.
“We are on a beautiful property and often have deer and other wildlife visit. In good weather, we are able to move residents onto our large deck, through doorways wide enough to accommodate beds.
“Residents and their families can take in the fresh air. There are patios and garden walkways, and the bird feeders outside each of the rooms attract lovely finches, blue jays, cardinals and other birds.
“The smell of fresh baking is usually in the air and fresh flowers are ever present throughout the home, where members of our team are always available to share tea and conversation.”
When describing the hospice, there are two words Dickie constantly emphasized — “home” and “team.” And she stressed there are no patients at the home, but residents.
“I’m blessed to be part of the phenomenal team I work with, which includes nurses, personal support workers, doctors, volunteers and support staff. It is an amazing, small but mighty team. “It is an honour to have this award bestowed upon me.” Having worked 23 years as a registered nurse in chronic care, surgery, cardiology, medical outpatient care and oncology at the former Mississauga General Hospital, now Trillium Health Centre, 10 years ago, Dickie was ready for a change.
Aposting in the Oakville Beaver led Dickie to apply for a job at IAH, which is the fulfilment of Margaret Anderson’s dream to create the region’s first cancer hospice in honour of her late husband.
A Scotland-born chemist who came to Canada in 1953, Ian Anderson died from cancer at home in1990, in the care of his wife and son, Stuart. He was 59.
After enduring the physical and emotional stress, fears and uncertainty of caring for a loved one, Margaret Anderson created the Ian Anderson Fund and donated the funds required to establish a residential hospice so other families could find support when faced with the same traumatic situation.
In 1997, on the anniversary of his death, the Ian Anderson House became Ontario’s first cancer hospice, and it has since cared for and supported thousands of terminally ill residents and their families.
Margaret Anderson, the hospice’s founder and executive director, said, “It has been my pleasure to work with Peggy over the last 10 years.
“Peggy brought to Ian Anderson House exceptional leadership skills and combined her loving, caring nature to guide our health-care team over these years. Ian Anderson House has an exceptional reputation in the community and it is in large part due to Peggy’s leadership,” she added.
In her first years at IAH, Dickie worked seven days a week, then five, and although she scaled back to three days a week a year ago, she’s not quite ready to retire.
“I’m working less, because I feel our team is working at such a high level, so much so that there are times I don’t even need to be here any more,” Dickie said with a chuckle.
Cathy Kiteley, a registered nurse on the IAH team, couldn’t disagree more.
“Peggy, who we affectionately call ‘Peg,’ displays a beautiful combination of resolve and confidence mixed with an openness and desire to help others find their strengths and purpose,” Kiteley wrote in her letter nominating Dickie on behalf of the staff and volunteers at IAH.
“Whether it’s her infectious smile and ‘good morning’ cheer to everyone, to her commitment to ensure routine ongoing education for all, Peg creates a space for everyone to flourish and to feel they are a vital part of the tapestry.”
In her letter, Kiteley recalled a moving early winter morning experience that for her summed up Dickie’s stature.
“Something drew me to the kitchen, where I looked out the window and spotted a majestic deer standing tall amongst the evergreens, as if she knew exactly who she was and her purpose in life.
“At that moment, it occurred to me that Peggy was just like that deer. She is one of those nurses where it becomes obvious on first meeting and interacting with her that she cares deeply and completely about her work and those she serves.
“Peggy routinely ensures that all the residents and their families experience living and dying in a way that uniquely matches their wishes and needs,” Kiteley said.
Her colleagues compiled a list of Dickie’s attributes they felt qualified her to be nominated for the Nightingale Award, which include: a passion for palliative care that encompasses unlimited possibilities; a remarkable role model who leads by shining example; gracious, kind, giving and compassionate; and the importance of including family and friends, always part of the core.
Linda Fletcher, who also submitted a nomination letter on her family’s behalf, spoke about how her mother, Shirley Walmsley, “was treated with the utmost respect and loving care” during the last three weeks of her life at IAH, as had her father, retired physician Dr. Douglas Walmsley, who died at the home in 2014.
She recalled how Dickie arranged for Shirley to host a 30th birthday party for Fletcher’s twin boys in the IAH resource centre, as their grandmother had done since they were born but was no longer able to do on her own.
“There are beautiful deer in the ravine behind IAH,” said Fletcher, adding: “We found out later that Peggy had thrown some apples and bread near the window of the resource centre so we might experience some four-legged visitors.
“My family and I spent12-14 hours a day at the hospice. Peggy always calmly took the time to talk to me to see how I was feeling and to discuss mom’s care.
“She wants to make each person’s wishes come true, and I feel that she emulates the notion of ‘living with dying’ instead of ‘living to die.’
“With both my parents, Peggy worked so hard to make their final days special. It is such an incredible place, and Peggy and her staff will always have a special place in my heart,” Fletcher said.
Although she’s honoured to have been selected for the Nightingale Award, Dickie made it clear that although one person can make a difference, it takes the whole team to make IAH work as well as it does.
“There are about 25 members on our care team, most are part time, and then there are about 80 active volunteers, and we have two components,” explained Dickie, who has, in her decade at the home, performed all of the duties of staff and volunteers.
“Our outreach co-ordinators are available seven days a week to meet people months before they would need to come here. We make about 600 home visits a year to families who have referrals from their doctors or family members who have heard about IAH. Only about a third will come to the hospice, while others will manage at home.
“Since most people’s goal is to stay at home, linking them with the resources in their community they need to keep them safe at home as long as possible is important.
“The folks who come here have reached the point where they can’t safely be at home any longer, and every story is a bit different. Some are elderly with no one to look after them, and some, who are young with young families, choose not to die at home because it’s something they don’t want their children to experience.
“We meet people shortly after they’re diagnosed (with cancer) and some we meet when they’re in their final stages. Either way, we connect with them to see how we can help.
“The people we meet in the community and the residents in our home make the choice to come here and we know we can’t change the disease, but we can certainly be true to the hospice philosophy, to provide pain and symptom management and support the quality of life.”
Working in an environment where dying is a daily fact of life, Dickie draws her strength and positive outlook not only from the IAH team but also at her own home.
“My husband, Stewart, and daughter, Heather, listen to some of my frustrations, some of my joys and they provide wonderful support that has helped me manage this role for so long,” she said.
Heather is studying nursing. It’s not hard to imagine from where she draws her inspiration.
“Peggy always calmly took the time to talk to me to see how I was feeling and to discuss mom’s care.” LINDA FLETCHER NOMINATED PEGGY DICKIE ON FAMILY’S BEHALF