FLA OHT introduces online hub for palliative care resources
February 17, 2026.
To make palliative care easier to understand and navigate across the region, the Frontenac, Lennox and Addington Ontario Health Team (FLA OHT) launched two new online resource pages earlier this year to support patients, caregivers, families and health-care providers.
Now available on the FLA OHT website, Palliative Care Resources for Patients and Caregivers and Palliative Care Resources for Health-Care Providers, each page provides a centralized online hub where people can find trusted information, practical tools and links to local services in one place.
“The goal of palliative care is to improve quality of living and dying. It is a holistic approach that can be beneficial long before the final days and weeks of life,” said Megan Conboy, clinical coach, palliative care.
Michael’s experience illustrates this approach in practice
At 72, Michael expected retirement to be a time to slow down. Instead, an unexpected diagnosis quickly filled his days with medical appointments, paperwork and difficult decisions. Advanced lung cancer forced Michael and his wife, Kathy, into a world of specialists, tests and unfamiliar medical language.
Unsure where to begin, they turned to someone they trusted: their family doctor. During that visit, Michael learned that palliative care is not about giving up or stopping treatment. Rather, it focuses on helping people live as well as possible while facing serious illness by managing pain and symptoms, offering emotional support and helping families navigate complex care.
Their doctor connected them to a team that included nurses, therapists and home-care providers. Soon after, a care coordinator visited their home, followed by professionals who supported pain control, mobility, daily activities and emotional well-being. A hospice volunteer also spent time with Michael, giving Kathy opportunities to rest.
What began as confusion gradually became coordinated care. With clearer guidance and compassionate support, Michael and Kathy were able to focus less on navigating the system and more on spending meaningful time together.
How the resources support patients and families navigate situations like Michael’s
There has long been a need for a central location to share palliative care information. Palliative care is not always well understood, and it can be difficult for patients, families and providers to know where to begin or how to access appropriate supports. These challenges are often compounded when services are delivered across multiple health-care settings and by numerous organizations. Experiencing a life-limiting illness is difficult enough without the added burden of navigating a complex and unfamiliar system.
After Michael’s diagnosis, he and Kathy found themselves managing multiple appointments and unfamiliar services spread across hospitals, community organizations and home-care providers. But now, through its new centralized resource pages, FLA OHT brings together practical and locally relevant information in one place to help answer common questions, including where to begin, what supports are available and how to plan.
The patient and caregiver page offers guidance on advance care planning, symptom management, caregiver supports, end-of-life care options, and grief and bereavement, while also connecting families to local organizations.
The provider page supports clinicians who may not specialize in palliative care but play a key role in guiding patients and strengthening coordination across the region.
“These two new palliative care resource pages are important building blocks in our ongoing work to improve access to palliative care in our region,” informed Conboy.
Through these resources, FLA OHT is advancing its broader goal of improving access to compassionate, integrated palliative care, recognizing that quality end-of-life care begins long before the final days.
More updates and tools are planned as this work continues.