Medical respite care that offers rest and renewal

Canuck Place provides medical respite or 24-hour everyday nursing care for children on program for a short period of time at both hospices, to allow families time for rest and renewal. 

We create unique, individualized care plans with each child and family to support the care of the child while they stay in-hospice. Respite stays also provide a chance for ongoing assessment of the child’s health, management of symptoms, and opportunities for counselling and family support. 

Our Vancouver location has a school room staffed by a Vancouver School Board teacher and special education assistant. Both locations offer activities to respite families that includes music therapy, play therapy, recreation therapy outings, spending time with volunteers, and theme days.

Families have the option to drop their child off for a respite stay or to stay in-house with their child for the duration of their booked time at Canuck Place. 

Comfort is always a focus of respite stays. 

All families on the program receive a letter from Canuck Place (usually in November) letting you know when booking requests for respite for the following year will start to be accepted. Requests for respite are accepted all year long, but we strongly encourage families to plan ahead for respite time to avoid disappointment if dates are unavailable.

There are two categories of respite care:

  1. Priority Respite Care (R1): Every child on our program is eligible to book 20 nights per year on a first come, first-served basis. Unused respite nights do not roll-over to the following year. It is recommended that families book respite stays every few months to make the most of our full team services. 
  2. Extra Respite Care (R2): We may offer extra respite care sometimes on short notice based on bed availability. This is in addition to the eligible number of nights per year

*Please note that we try our best not to cancel or change any type of respite stay. In some cases, we may need to make changes to make room for urgent symptom management stays and increasing care needs of other children who are already staying in the hospices. Children in need of end-of-life care are brought into the hospice in Vancouver as soon as possible

Please read the family handbook below for additional details on booking a medical respite stay.

Canuck Place Family Handbook pdf 4.11 mb