Granting wishes 'so rewarding' for retired nurse

A local nurse has found joy in her retirement by working and volunteering with palliative patients. 

Retired Collingwood General and Marine Hospital nurse manager Barbara Gotuaco, of Collingwood, is now a volunteer and part of the team granting wishes for palliative patients through The Living Wish Foundation. 

"It's so rewarding. There's not too many things you do where people are truly so grateful. You feel you are really contributing to their final wishes and they appreciate you making this happen," Gotuaco said.

Each wish is individual. Some are exciting and some are low-key, but they are all meaningful for the terminally ill person, she added.

Gotuaco has been part of making six people's final wishes coming true.

In her first case, a woman wanted a letter written to her many grandchildren. Gotuaco listened to her stories, drafted the letter, printed it up, and added the woman's photo to each envelope for each grandchild.

"I think it was really helpful for her to talk about all the good times she had with her grandchildren. It was really lovely,” Gotuaco said.

Kelley Cookson is the Wish program coordinator, having been on the job for three months. She used to work at Hospice Georgian Triangle and finds the work rewarding because they are helping terminally people and their families build a positive experience together.

"A legacy project is pretty common in palliative care work," Cookson said. 

The planning of a party is also a popular wish. Living Wish volunteers do all the planning, serving and clean up and that's meaningful, Cookson said.

“The importance of these wishes is when people are at the end of life, things are heavy. They have a lot on their mind. People don’t have the bandwidth to execute these things. The whole reason of our organization is to step in and give them something light,” she said.

And that's why the work isn't sad, Cookson said.

“It gives them something to look forward to and after the person passes it gives [their families] something positive to remember about that time, that was otherwise a very difficult time,” Cookson said.

Living Wish has a re-purposed ambulance that is used to transport people to and from their wish locations if they are in a wheelchair or confined to bed. The wish activities are medically supervised.

One woman who was dying and wanted to see her daughter graduate used the ambulance to bring her to an early graduation ceremony to see her daughter in her gown, getting her certificate and flowers.

"She died four days later," said Cookson.

An exciting wish was a man who had his pilot's licence and worked as a flight nurse, accompanying passengers in aircraft to hospital. He wanted to go up in the sky one last time.

Living Wish got him a flight a two-seater plane. A local videographer filmed the flight from the ground and put a camera in the cockpit. The videographer edited the footage and presented the man with a memory device.

"That gentleman watched it everyday until he died," Cookson said.

Going to a Blue Jays game is a popular wish, added Cookson.

The Living Wish Foundation was established in 2018 and got its charitable status the following year. It is entirely dependent on donations which can be made online livingwishfoundation.org/. 

Donations are needed as much as volunteers and business partnerships.

“We need volunteers who can help us execute wishes. People with a medical knowledge or people with logistics knowledge are great,” said Cookson. “We always need partnerships with businesses, like catering companies that can donate or give us a discount.” 

Currently, Living Wish has a website and phone contact and a post office box. What they are lacking is an office. Cookson is looking for a donation of office space or a discount on rent.

The Living Wish Foundation has two annual signature fundraisers, the Cal Patterson Memorial Hockey Tournament was held in Collingwood on April 26 and 27. It raised more than $44,000. 

The upcoming fundraiser is the Feast at Frog's Hollow on Sept. 7 in Meaford.

Anyone wanting to apply for a wish must live within a 75-kilometre radius of Collingwood and have a prognosis for a year or less.

For more information, visit the website or call 705-998-1851.