St. Marguerite Manor & Dulcina Hospice - Covenant Care - Calgary

My Mom spent one month at Dulcina. Her cancer was sudden and her illness only 3 months from diagnosis to death.Mom did not want to die at home. It was very nice for us to have such a nice facility and caring people where my Mom could relax and pass away peacefully.

We got mom into a bed at Dulcina only one day before she passed. It was a very short time but the love, support and care shown to mom and to us as family was such a blessing! We thought all the persons at Dulcina were like angels there to help! We will be forever grateful and thankful for your love and care during this most difficult time of losing mom. Shelley Baker

I agree with the last review. I believe it would be wise to put your loved one in another more established, and reputable, Calgary hospice, like Agape. We also had a very distressing experience when we put our elderly loved one in this hospice. A medication dosage was obviously not right, which abruptly ended his life. I feel very upset for putting our loved one in this hospice, although I had checked the reviews at the time and it had good reviews and ratings. This location was somewhat more suitable for us than other hospices. And as they had good modern equipment and beds, we felt it was the best choice for our loved one’s condition. I have to give credit to the chaplain and some staff who were very supportive and caring though. However, after we put him in there, I also noticed that the nurses all congregated behind the admin counter as well, and did not check the patients very often. However, the aids were much more helpful. He had previously been in the hospital for a month, where he was well looked after and cared for. At the hospital, the staff thought hospice care might be better for him, and he might possibly do better there than in his care home. A palliative care nurse also thought that he might have weeks, or possibly even months, left to live. However, after he was admitted into this hospice, he only lived 2 days. I was with him on the second day he was in Dulcina. He was fully conscious and I fed him lunch. He certainly was not in any state of being close to dying on that day. After lunch, I asked his nurse if I could take him outside as it was a pleasant September day. She agreed; however, about 15 or 20 minutes later she came by and gave him some medication, putting a couple of injections in his arms. Our family member cried out and said it was very itchy, so I got the nurse and she put warm towels on his arm to take the itch away. To my shock, he then quickly went into a very deep sleep and slept for hours and never woke up again. My sister and I became distressed that he went into such a deep sleep and wasn’t waking up at all. And it was disturbing that the hospice medical staff really didn't seem to be too concerned about it. Sadly he passed away the next morning. Early in the morning, before he passed away, we asked the hospice medical staff if anything could be done to save him. They told us the only thing possible to save him was to give him a substance to try to dry up the fluid around his lungs and heart, but they didn’t know if it would work fast enough, which it didn’t. I complained to Covenant Care afterwards about what happened to our loved one. However, this got nowhere; they just seemed interested in protecting themselves from any wrong-doing. (However, I know now where I need to complain.) They even stated they were going to discipline a medical staff for his comment he made to me about our loved one being far too over-medicated. Around that time, I had a coworker who was a doctor from another country, writing exams to get his Canadian credentials to practice medicine in Canada. A couple of months after our loved one passed away, I explained what happened to him, as I wanted to get another doctor’s unbiased opinion from an outside source. He said he believed something else could have been done to try to save his life, which I always wondered about. And he even told me he thought the way they treated our loved one was immoral. I believe the hospice (or his doctor) devalued our elderly loved one’s life because of his age, and just didn’t want to do anything more to prolong his life, or they didn’t want to be bothered with looking after him. I am very disgusted with what happened in this hospice. Our loved one may have been in his 90’s; but before he became ill, he had a very sharp mind, looked and acted somewhat younger than his years, and I know he still had a desire to live as long as he could even though he was palliative.

This is the second hospice that I have experienced a loved one being cared for in Calgary and was mortified by the quality of care provided in comparison to Agape. The hospice itself is lovely, clean bright, new and stocked with many long term necessities however the care which far outweighs the importance of the facility is by far substandard and boarders on end of life cruelty. The staff is rude, neglectful, and utterly disrespectful to grieving family members in particular an LPN by the name of Sue. I would strongly recommend that you do not choose this facility to compassionately care for any of your loved ones. During my experience with them there were countless issues related to quality of care including... - watching numerous staff gather and chat behind the admin counter while ignoring people waiting for assistance - over the course of the first 3 days that we were there staff were neglectful in checking in with our loved one for up to 8 hours at a time - staff did not proactively or regularly tend to comfort & position moving our loved one for 5 days until a complaint was filed with the facility manager - when asked to have the LPN Sue explain drugs & dosages being administered (questions stemming from a place of understanding) were ignorantly over spoken and Sue went as far as saying to us that “we are a problem family & everyone there knew it”. - When we pressed the call button to ask for pain relief to be administered as our loved one was literally crying in pain Sue came into the room eluded to the fact that I was lying to her and said that everything looked fine even with another aid confirming patient discomfort I am disgusted and appalled by the care, lack of patient and family compassion & utter disrespect that is administered by this facility & can not urge you enough NOT place your family members in the care of Dulcina Hospice.

My father's health deteriorated quickly after he was diagnosed with a late-stage cancer. We first hesitated when he was qualified for hospice care. After he moved in Dulcina hospice we soon realized our concerns before were unfounded. All the caregivers, nurses and doctors there are very nice, professional, and respectful. The facility and support is top notch. They give my father such a good care that he feels much more comfortable comparing to staying at home before. Thank you, Editha, Roniqua and everyone else!

My father was placed in the care of Dulcina Hospice when his brain cancer laid him low. I have spend a couple nights there and I have to say the staff were diligent and understanding. I found them to be polite and willing to help anytime I needed something, often being as concerned for my comfort as that of my father. The addition of the garden with the fountain is an amazing one and I enjoyed walking around it when I had a moment. Also awesome to meet Molly late one evening!

My brother, Keith, spent 3 months at Dulcina Hospice this summer. I live in Ontario and made two trips to Calgary; in June to help with the transition from palliative care to hospice and in August to be with him in his last days. Keith was a single man in his 50’s with lung cancer. He had a faithful friend who came nearly every day to see him, bring him food or items from home or run errands for him, but he was largely dependent on the staff. On both of my visits the staff and volunteers were helpful and caring and answered all my questions. Of course there were times when Keith had to wait for someone to come but he was always cared for and cared about. A number of the staff went out of their way to connect with Keith and popped in to see him often. He was so appreciative of the little things, especially his baths and his trips outside to the courtyard. When I was with him in his last days I was so impressed at the dignity he was shown even when he wasn’t aware of it. A daily wash and change of clothes, regular repositioning and checks. Staff checked in on me too, offering coffee and answering my queries. And I was brought to tears many times by the obvious affection they had for Keith. He was a quiet and solitary man who struggled with the loss of his independence but he gained the respect of the staff AND he found something to be grateful for every day. The last text on his phone (sent to me the day before I flew) said “The nurses are great!” I’m sorry to read of others peoples experiences but I would recommend Dulcina based on how my brother lived the last three months of his life. I will be forever grateful for the care he received.

Wonderful, caring staff. Horrible place to die. Very hospital-like, and not homey at all, horrible hospital food, inhumane beds, which are supposedly designed to reduce bedsores (nurse says they don't), but are inflatable, so from the moment your loved one is admitted, they have a high pitched fan sound like you'd hear on a bouncy castle blasting into their heads 24/7. The sound alone would make me want to end my life asap.To make matters worse, there is no SIGN on the building that says Hospice, and the address is not accurate on GPS, causing so much distress when rushing to the bedside of your loved one when time may be of the essence. I also emailed for info before she was being transported and never received a response. I thought hospices were supposed to be home-like. This is like an institution designed to make you feel 10 times worse. But again, staff are mostly wonderful, working their butts off in unprecedented times. Explaining that we're not allowed to leave the room with our PPE on in a nicer voice would have been helpful, but I don't fault them. Too much.