Local resident Ashling Amato has recently joined the Sea to Sky Hospice Society as the volunteer coordinator.
Amato moved to Squamish in 2014, and has been involved with Under One Roof, and also hosted the community’s first Death Café in 2016, a place where people gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss death. She has hosted many Death Cafes, including one at an international festival in Costa Rica.
They were well attended, even though it’s a taboo subject. “The idea was to normalize conversations around death so it is not awkward to talk about it,” Amato says.
Amato’s daughter died when she was in labour, and it became the catalyst for her own journey of wanting to work with the difficult topic. “For me, when I really think of death, in a sense it makes me super alive. The awareness that one day I won’t be here, it makes me feel life more intensely,” she says.
Her ability to be comfortable around this topic will come handy at the Sea to Sky Hospice Society, which serves those who are in hospice as well as the families who are grieving the loss of loved ones.
Staff and volunteers offer social and emotional support for patients and caregivers through various programs. “We have new programs starting up and we need more support and more volunteers in the community,” Amato says.
The Sea to Sky Hospice Society is also looking for volunteers who can sew or be part of the Hike for Hospice program, and make calls to families on tough anniversaries. Volunteers are also needed in Whistler for a men’s grief support group.
Anyone who wants to volunteer in the programs can contact Ashling Amato at volunteer@seatoskyhospicesociety.ca
