Sister Andrée Boutin, Canadian Spiritaine, shares how the Albatros movement supports people in palliative care or at the end of life, to put more and more life where it all seems to be.
Albatros, my bird of light
Albatros, my angel of tenderness
Albatros, I cling to your wings
Albatros, let me fly with you
In the heart of love.
Robert Lebel.
These words from Robert Lebel’s song express clearly what the Albatros movement is.
Its mission: To provide free support without discrimination of race, religion or social condition, to people with serious illness, to those in palliative care or end of life, from the time of diagnosis till the end of life.
Its philosophy: Being the hand extended from one human to another human. In this outstretched hand, I put what I am and the sick person, the members of his/her family put also what they are. The Quebec Albatross Movement has existed since 1980. Today, more than 1,100 trained and committed volunteers are there to accompany people who are living the last stages of their lives and to support their loved ones.
The Volunteers. People wishing to become Albatros members, must follow a general training of 36 hours, 12 modules of 3 hours each, to know themselves better and receive the necessary tools for this support. The topics discussed are: palliative care accompaniment, communication, physical, psychosocial and spiritual aspects, bereavement, ethical and legal issues, agony and death, the child facing the mourning of a loved one, etc. Theoretical courses, yes, but many situations to help each participant recognize his/her strengths and weaknesses and make him/her more capable of listening, respecting and supporting the sick and their families. If the individual examination of each candidate, at the end of the training is conclusive, he/she will be given a person to accompany, one hour per week, either in hospital, in R.P.A. (Seniors Residence) or at home, according to his/her preferences, until the person dies. The experiences are varied but all incredibly rich. The links forged with the patient and his family members throughout the process make each other grow and often the relationship continues with grief support, the necessary time, if the family wishes.
Medical Assistance in Dying (MAD). This component was not part of the curriculum for Albatros. Quebec, ahead internationally, is sadly seeing, each year, an increase in the number of applications for Medical Assistance in Dying, The Government, rather liberal on this point, advocates the right of each individual to use this service, if he/she wishes, and even more easily since this act is decriminalized for a few years and will soon be extended to people with mental disorders, depression and what more? Faced with this growing phenomenon, the volunteer Albatros, if he/she feels comfortable enough in his/her convictions, must continue his/her presence, his/her listening and his/her support, in the respect of the accompanied, avoiding to approve or condemn the choice of the patient but simply to bring him/her to live fully until the last moment.
Continuous training: The evolution of situations requires a constant adjustment, a necessary update. Also, punctual trainings, from 3 to 6 hours, are given for members who wish, on complementary topics always in order to meet the needs of the accompanied people.
The increasing number of requests that arrive at the Association’s office testify to an urgent need for support for people at the end of life. Thanks to the presence and listening of a volunteer, complement to what the family can do, the patient calms down, fully lives his/her last moments and the departure itself. The separation is done more gently, which does not take anything away from the pain and suffering, but they are rather experienced differently.
Logo meaning:
The rainbow symbolizes a bridge between the earth and the sky.
The Albatros, a large seabird, represents the soul that escapes from the body and wants to evoke the flight of the soul towards the light.
That’s why it seems to stand out from the logo.
Sister Andrée Boutin