For the last 17 years of her career, Dawn worked at John Dolan, a school in Saskatoon that serves students with multiple disabilities. With a Masters Degree in Exceptional Education, she worked half-time in the classrooms and half-time as Vice Principal \u2013 eventually Principal. \u201cI worked with children and young adults with intense special needs,\u201d she says. \u201cWe had a lot of students with medical and health needs. I learned a lot about life, illness, challenges … and I learned that people can really use a lot of help when they\u2019re in the toughest of circumstances. Little things can actually be really big things in those situations.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Dawn retired in June of 2017, she knew she wanted to help others. \u201cI had been intrigued by hospice-type work for many years \u2013 my first meeting with the Prairie Hospice Society [PHS] staff confirmed that this is what I wanted to do with my extra retirement time.\u201d Dawn did her volunteer training with the PHS in November of that same year. \u201cAnd on my last day of training, Sheila Morgan asked if I\u2019d be interested in working with Allen and his family.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allen Tulagan was one and a half years old at the time, the youngest-ever client of PHS. Allen was born with Goldenhar Syndrome, a rare condition which causes abnormalities of the face and head, as well as the internal organs. After spending his life up until then in the hospital, Allen was coming home to live with his parents and his older sister for the first time. While Allen isn\u2019t at end of life, he does have a Pediatric Palliative designation; he requires machines and a team of people to keep him alive. For this reason, PHS felt they could provide two volunteers to help assist the Tulagans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was matched with another volunteer who\u2019s more experienced than me – Sheila Ann,\u201d says Dawn. \u201cAllen is a pretty complex little guy. He was fresh out of the hospital, and \u2018Mom\u2019 was being trained to manage everything.\u201d This includes suctioning his tracheostomy and monitoring his ventilator, oxygen compressor, and gastrointestinal feeding tube. \u201c\u2018Mom\u2019 is amazing, oh my gosh!\u201d says Dawn. \u201cI don\u2019t know any mother who could do more for her kids. \u2018Dad\u2019 is great too, but he needs to be at work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMost of what Sheila Ann and I do is help get Allen to his medical appointments,\u201d explains Dawn. Their system is to arrive at the Tulagan home an hour ahead of time; it takes a while to get everything organized and packed up. \u201cIn the beginning, Sheila Ann and I would take turns driving Allen, his big sister, and \u2018Mom\u2019 to appointments. After Allen\u2019s little sister was born, Sheila Ann would stay at the house with one or both girls, while I drive \u2018Mom\u2019 and Allen to appointments,\u201d says Dawn, who has Allen\u2019s car seat permanently installed in the back seat of her car. \u201cSometimes I\u2019ll wait in the waiting room for them, or sometimes I\u2019ll come into the appointment \u2013 \u2018Mom\u2019 finds it helpful to have an extra eye and ear there. Because of my background, a lot of it makes sense to me. For instance, many of the students at John Dolan School had similar pieces of equipment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite his challenges, Dawn says Allen is just a typical little boy in a lot of ways. \u201cHe loves car rides, oh my gosh! I\u2019m convinced when he sees me, he knows it\u2019s car ride time \u2013 he\u2019ll have a huge grin. He\u2019s always a happy little boy, regardless. Anyone who meets him falls in love with him in a nanosecond!\u201d she laughs. \u201cHe\u2019s such a busy little boy, and he\u2019s feisty which I like to see \u2013 it shows me he\u2019s going to learn easily. I\u2019m excited for when he\u2019ll be ready to attend a special preschool.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While spending time with Allen will vary \u2013 one week he may have one appointment, the next week he\u2019ll have two \u2013 Dawn sees two other PHS clients on a regular weekly basis. \u201cFor several months I\u2019ve been matched with a 75-year-old gentleman with cancer,\u201d says Dawn. \u201cHe and I visit while his wife naps or reads books, or walks the dog, goes shopping. He\u2019s a great conversationalist, I can\u2019t believe how quickly the time goes.\u201d She feels very lucky to have such a genuine connection with this couple. In fact, if her client is sometime well enough, they\u2019ve talked of socializing with Dawn and her husband. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As well, Dawn is the companion to a woman in her late 80s, who has cancer. \u201cWe do a variety of things together. I take her to appointments, we go grocery shopping, we\u2019ve gone to McNally Robinson because we both love books and we both have a sweet tooth, so we often stop for a treat,\u201d she smiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The general guideline for being a volunteer with PHS is that one would spend four hours a week in service. PHS is careful not to lean on their volunteers too hard, and is well aware of the emotional nature of this kind of work. However, with three regular clients \u2013 \u201cplus I\u2019m able to give spur-of-the-moment help when there\u2019s a need\u201d \u2013 Dawn spends up to 10 hours a week as a PHS volunteer. But, she insists, she is not overstretched by any means. \u201cThis is my main and sole volunteering spot. It\u2019s my choice. And I\u2019m monitoring myself to make sure I\u2019m not overdoing it; I want to bring my best. I love the work,\u201d she states. \u201cI could not be in a better volunteer position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Dawn, the work is rewarding on multiple levels. \u201cThe clients and their families are so incredibly kind, appreciative, and resilient,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve been amazed at how quickly and strongly I\u2019ve connected with clients and their families \u2013 I\u2019m literally entering their homes as a stranger at a most stressful and highly personal time and they are trusting me to care for their loved ones. Two to three hours of our time can be huge for families … for instance, there was once when I knocked on the door of a client\u2019s house, the wife and sister of the client were literally teary-eyed with appreciation that I was there to give them a break. One of them commented, \u2018I knew we could hang on until Dawn came,\u2019 and off they went for a few hours of respite while I had the privilege of spending time with their loved one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although she tries to anticipate and plan for client visits, Dawn says she\u2019s learned to simply go with the flow and follow the client\u2019s lead. \u201cI\u2019ve learned that silence truly is golden \u2013 one visit in particular reminds me of this. I had enjoyed several good conversational visits with an elderly lady before she became too ill to speak. On what was to be our final visit \u2013 she died the next day \u2013 I sat beside her while she was resting in bed. At one point, she reached out from under her blanket and held out her open hand. Nothing needed to be said, we simply held hands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dawn\u2019s eyes are misty. \u201cOf course, it is very hard and very sad when one of the people I\u2019ve met and connected with dies. To help me deal with my grief, I ask myself \u2018Would I have rather not met this amazing human being?\u2019 To which I respond \u2018Absolutely not \u2013 the gifts and the joys I received from being part of this person\u2019s life are with me forever\u2019. I try to bring these gifts and learnings with me, as I meet new clients and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked what drew her to hospice work in the first place, Dawn says it was almost selfish: she felt she needed to heal herself from some negative experiences she\u2019d had previously with people close to her who died. \u201cI knew in my head and my heart that it didn\u2019t need to be such a horrible event if people were supported and listened to,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve found it\u2019s really helping me with my own healing. It\u2019s taught me so much about life and obviously death. It\u2019s taught me about learning to live in the moment.\u201d She nods thoughtfully. \u201cIt\u2019s been everything I\u2019d hoped, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Jacquie Moore is a Saskatoon writer. She has been a volunteer companion with the Prairie Hospice Society since 2014.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the last 17 years of her career, Dawn worked at John Dolan, a school in Saskatoon that serves students with multiple disabilities. With a Masters Degree in Exceptional Education, she worked half-time in the classrooms and half-time as Vice Principal \u2013 eventually Principal. \u201cI worked with children and young adults with intense special needs,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/5.-story-5-scaled.jpg",1920,2560,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/5.-story-5-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/5.-story-5-225x300.jpg",225,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/5.-story-5-768x1024.jpg",768,1024,true],"large":["https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/5.-story-5-768x1024.jpg",768,1024,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/5.-story-5-1152x1536.jpg",1152,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/5.-story-5-1536x2048.jpg",1536,2048,true]},"post_excerpt_stackable":" For the last 17 years of her career, Dawn worked at John Dolan, a school in Saskatoon that serves students with multiple disabilities. With a Masters Degree in Exceptional Education, she worked half-time in the classrooms and half-time as Vice Principal \u2013 eventually Principal. \u201cI worked with children and young adults with intense special needs,\u201d she says. \u201cWe had a lot of students with medical and health needs. I learned a lot about life, illness, challenges … and I learned that people can really use a lot of help when they\u2019re in the toughest of circumstances. Little things can actually…<\/p>\n","category_list":"Stories<\/a>","author_info":{"name":"Jacquie Moore","url":"https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/author\/jacquie-moore\/"},"comments_num":"0 comments","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prairiehospice.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}