Welcome to Rosedale Hospice. We recognize this can be an emotional transition point in your journey with cancer. We will do everything we can to offer you both support and helpful resources.
Rosedale Hospice offers a life-affirming alternative to hospitalization or dying at home, focusing on quality of life. Located in the Northwest Calgary community of Rosedale, it is a seven-bed hospice in a quiet, peaceful home for adults with cancer.
At Rosedale Hospice family is defined by the patient – it may be relatives or friends. Our team will support our patients and their families throughout their stay with us. Hospice Calgary will continue to be there for the family through our grief support programs for as long as we are needed.
Hospice Care
Hospice is a philosophy and model of care that provides compassionate, quality care for people with limited life expectancy. It focuses on enhancing comfort, dignity, and choice. While patient needs are paramount, care at Rosedale Hospice also extends to caregivers, family, and friends.
Rosedale Hospice Admission Process
Rosedale Hospice provides end-of-life care for adult cancer patients who are no longer able to be at home or no longer require hospital admission. Admission criteria are:
- Cancer diagnosis
- Active, curative treatment has been discontinued (e.g. chemotherapy, radiation)
- Focus is strictly on comfort, with no extraordinary measures required (like resuscitation)
Patient assessment and referral to hospice is completed by the palliative care teams in hospital or home care programs. Waitlists are managed through Alberta Health Services. To learn more about the Alberta Health Services referral process, visit their website: www.albertahealthservices.ca
There is no cost to stay at Rosedale Hospice other than the cost of medications. All patients will be enrolled in the Alberta Blue Cross Palliative Care Health Benefits program, this is a premium free benefit program which covers the cost of most medications required for care.
Care and Comfort
At Rosedale Hospice, our care is focused on individual patient and family needs.
Our End-of-Life Care Team
Our interprofessional team is specially trained in end-of-life care and will work with you and your family to ensure your unique needs and goals are identified. Our team is made up of:
- 24 hour on site Registered Nurses and Health Care Aides
- Physicians with expertise in hospice and palliative care
- Spiritual Health Practitioner
- Grief Counsellors
- in-house cook
- house keeping and maintenance staff
- administrative team
- and experienced volunteers
Building Information
We have a variety of family and common spaces throughout the building that are available to be used. All of these spaces may also be booked at no cost for private family events if desired. Visitors who are wanting to spend the night but would like to have their own private space are welcome to book our guest suite for $25 per night. Guest room reservations can be coordinated through our reception volunteers or nursing staff and are accommodated based on availability.
Tour Rosedale Hospice
Rosedale Hospice
920 7A Street NW
Calgary, AB T2M 3J3
403-284-5195
Rosedale Hospice is a quiet, peaceful home where individuals are cared for in a supportive environment. If you are considering Rosedale Hospice for yourself or someone close to you and have questions, please feel free to contact our Director of Clinical Care or Nurse Clinician during daytime hours Monday – Friday. If you would like to book an in-person tour please contact us at 403-284-5195 to make an appointment. Unfortunately, drop in tours cannot be accommodated.

Complementary & Alternative Therapies
Hospice Calgary respects patient autonomy and the wish to have allied health practitioners or non-prescribed medications continue to be part of care at Rosedale Hospice. Patients may continue to see their complementary therapists at Rosedale Hospice (e.g. massage therapist, Reiki therapist, alternative health practitioner).Medication Management
Palliative care doctors are specialists in the treatment of pain. Our experience supports that near the end of life most people do not become addicted to their pain medicine. Staff assess each patient and assure their safety before and after medications are givenPain & Other Physical Symptoms
Our interprofessional team will work closely with the patient and family to ensure pain and all other physical symptoms are assessed on admission and on an ongoing basis. All symptoms will be managed to the best of the team’s ability until death. For some people pain and other distressing symptoms never develop.
Food Services
Patients will be asked by the nursing staff or the in-house cook for meal choices prior to each meal time. Patient meals are free of charge. There is a nominal cost for meals for families.Baths
Bed baths are offered daily and our patients can also enjoy a luxury bath in our spa tub, as requested, with assistance by a staff member. Thanks to versatile lifting aids, we are able to safely transfer patients into and out of the bath. Warm blankets are offered post-bath and there is music and battery-operated candles available to complete the calming experience.
Nail Care
We have an optional hand and foot care nurse who can be scheduled through our nursing staff to come and cut patient nails. There is a cost for this service.

Emotional & Spiritual Support
Hospice Calgary promotes an environment where we hope to support our patients and family needs, including emotional and spiritual care. Our Spiritual Health Practitioner is based out of Rosedale Hospice, while our counsellors are based out of the Living With Advanced Illness Centre and will come to Rosedale Hospice as needed. Ceremonial arrangements for families while at Rosedale Hospice can be made through our Spiritual Care Coordinator, including smudging ceremonies.
Counselling & Grief Support Services
We promise to journey with you through end of life and grief for as long as you need us. Individual counselling is available to patients and families for all ages. In addition, after the death of their person, adult family members are offered Volunteer Telephone Bereavement Support through monthly phone calls.
Contemplative Care
At Rosedale Hospice our staff practice contemplative care. Contemplative practice in palliative care involves cultivating mindfulness, emotional self-regulation, and balance in the face of suffering. We turn toward suffering, bear witness and choose wisely our responses to patients, their families and our colleagues. By honouring each phase of dying and death, as well as, those we have lost, our staff are able to be fully present at the bedside of each patient.
Safety Matters
Patient and family safety is of paramount importance to us.
Our building and standards of care are maintained through certification with Accreditation Canada and Continuing Care Health Service Standards, in addition to compliance with legislation pertaining to the provision of health care.
Hospice Calgary has policies and procedures in place to ensure continuity of care and personal safety in the event of any situation (e.g. fire, infectious diseases, unexpected disruption of services).
Hospice Calgary has a process in place for managing incidents which may impact patient or visitor safety. This will include disclosure and support to patients and families.
We invite patient and family feedback both during and after the patient stay at Rosedale Hospice.

Patient Equipment
Hospice Calgary provides and maintains equipment and supplies for its patients and our equipment is maintained at high levels with patient safety and comfort paramount.
Patient use of any equipment (e.g. a wheelchair) can be arranged with a staff member, including resourcing equipment that is not readily available at Rosedale Hospice.

Arrangement of Transportation of Patient
Arrangement of safe transportation, as required, is supported by Rosedale Hospice.
In the exceptional circumstance that a patient is transferred offsite for a medical reason, Hospice Calgary will arrange inter-facility transport (at no cost to the patient).
If the patient or family members wishes to transport a patient offsite for a social reason, Hospice Calgary staff will work with you to arrange the safest means of transportation (e.g. private vehicle, handi-bus, wheelchair accessible cab). The cost will be the responsibility of the patient/family.

Visitor Information
Hospice Calgary recognizes that visiting with family and friends is an important factor in our patients’ overall well-being. Visitors are welcome based on patient preferences and care needs. We do not have restrictions on visiting hours and welcome family to spend the night in either the patient’s room or in our guest suite.
We are committed to ensuring a safe and healthy environment for our patients, visitors, staff, and volunteers. As such, if you are sick or feeling any cold or flu like symptoms we ask that you do not visit.
Visitors must clean their hands and put on a new medical mask when they enter the building. Masks are provided by the hospice and must be worn in all common areas of the building and whenever staff, physicians, or volunteers are in the room.
All visitors must sign in and out upon entry and exit of the building.

Parking
Free visitor parking is available in the rear of the hospice and the garage is reserved for staff parking only.
Rosedale Hospice is in a residential area and abides by strict parking regulations. When parking on the street please be aware of the one-hour city parking restrictions.

Public Transportation
There are several bus stops within walking distance of Rosedale Hospice. To plan a trip using public transportation go to Calgary Transit's Trip Planner.

Dining Room
Our Dining Room is available for any patients or visitors to use for meetings, family gatherings or meals. We've hosted birthday parties, holiday and family dinners. Visitors are welcome to bring their own food or can arrange for our in-house cook per standard visitor meal costs to prepare dinner for the group.Fireside Lounge
Located on the second level, the Fireside Lounge is the most used room at Rosedale Hospice. Visitors are welcome to bring their own food; a small kitchenette with a microwave and refrigerator is available for patients and visitors to use. The Fireside Lounge is used by our staff at shift change to give report to our oncoming team and is therefore not available to the public from 6:45 – 7:15am and 2:45 – 3:15pm.Library
Our library is used most commonly when a large number of family members or visitors are seeing one patient, in order to not crowd the patient's room. There are a TV and board games available as activities to share or to help pass the time. A pull-out couch is also present for use should a visitation go late into the evening.
Chapel
The chapel is a non-denominational space that is available to anyone who would like a peaceful place to retreat. This space may be used for prayer, meditation, a quiet place to read, a place to have coffee and visit, or simply to sit and enjoy the sunshine streaming through our stain glass window. Families and visitors have held services in the chapel, including marriage ceremonies or scripture readings.
We also host musical guests occasionally, where everyone in the house, patients and visitors alike, are invited to come and listen. A piano is available in the chapel for anybody who would like to play.
The chapel is also home to a memorial wall where cards with each patient's name, date and time of death are written on a card that is then decorated by the family and placed on the wall in memory of the patient. As the memorial wall fills, the cards are moved into a binder that holds all the past memorial cards. Family members and visitors often return to Rosedale Hospice to remember their person and view their memory card while soaking in the serenity of the chapel.Memory Lamp Room
The memory lamp room is a small nook of Rosedale Hospice with a couch and a small patio. It is home to our memory lamp, a long-standing tradition for us. It is turned on traditionally by a family member once their person has died. The lamp stays lit for a day following the death. The patient's memorial card is also placed by the lamp before being moved to the memorial wall in the chapel.
Next to the memory lamp, on a hand carved quilt stand, is our dignity quilt. It was designed and hand stitched by volunteers with the goal to create a dignity quilt to cover our patients during their final journey out of Rosedale Hospice.
Comfortable chairs welcome those who wish to sit in this room of remembering.
Coffee Room
Located on the patient floor by the elevator, with a wide view of downtown Calgary, our coffee room is a place to sit back with a cup of brewed coffee, tea, or juice and freshly baked goods. This space is furnished with comfy seating for patients and visitors to use.Guest Room
Our guest room with a private bathroom is available for $25/night. Visitors are also welcomed to stay in the patient room at no cost.

History of Rosedale Hospice
In 1993, then Hospice Calgary directors, Dr. Brock Dundas and Lou Winthers, were searching for a property suitable for a residential hospice.
Philanthropists and long-time Calgarians, Murray McCann and his late wife Myrna, believed that the people in our community would benefit from having a place to ?call home? at the end-of-life, a place where they could get 24-hour specialized care and support.
To that end, they found a former Basilian Father's residence in the neighbourhood of Rosedale, and purchased the beautiful 16,000 square foot home for Hospice Calgary to use in perpetuity. It was renovated and equipped to become Rosedale Hospice, where it received its first patient in May of 1996.
More than twenty years later, Rosedale Hospice continues to serve end-of-life cancer patients and their families as a living legacy to the McCann family's generosity.
Hospice Calgary appreciates the support of our donors who assist us in maintaining the Rosedale Hospice facility and providing added program support. We gratefully acknowledge the support of Alberta Health Services who provide funding for the patient care at Rosedale Hospice.

Pet Policy
Hospice Calgary promotes a patient-focused environment that recognizes the bonds people have with their pets. Pets belonging to the patient are welcome to visit for a short time in the patient's bedroom. Please ensure that they are on a leash or in a kennel when coming to the house, and go directly to the room. Rosedale Hospice will work to reduce the risk of animal-human disease transmission during animal visitation, animal-assisted activities, and animal-therapy in accordance with Alberta Health Services and other mandated guidelines.
Smoking Policy
We ask visitors to refrain from smoking on our property and in front of neighbouring homes. A smoking area for patients is available at the rear of the property behind the garage. Patients must be accompanied by family or friends to our smoking area.Additional Resources
We have gathered the following resources for you. Visit our Resources page for more.

For Caregivers Coping with Advanced Illness
- A Guide for Caregivers
- CareChannel Resource Library
- Emotional Journey of Caregiving
- Caregiver Alberta: Programs & Services Brochure
- Caregiver Alberta: Community Programs
- Caregiver Coaching
- Caregiver Connect
- Caregivers Guide: A Handbook about End of Life Care
- Caregivers Lighthouse
- Calgary Seniors Volunteer Respite for Caregivers
- Caregivers: Put on Your Own Oxygen Mask First
- Caregiver Support Program Online Training
- Canadian Virtual Hospice
- Family Conversations about MAID
- Living with Advanced Illness Brochure
- PEOLC Resources
- Sleep Disturbances
- Stories for Caregivers
- Support for Alzheimer's and Dementia Caregivers
- Talking to Children About Life-Threatening Illness
- Talking To Teens about Life-Threatening Illness
- When the Holidays Hurt
- When Grief Goes to School
- Video -- Tips for Caregivers
Suggested Books
- Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
- The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs
- The Grace in Dying: A Message of Hope, Comfort and Spiritual Transformation by Kathleen Dowling Singh
- Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
- Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying by Ram Dass, Bush Mirabai
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi







For those Living with Advanced Illness & their Families
- Alberta Cancer Exercise Brochure
- Canadian Virtual Hospice
- Child Grief & Life-Threatening Illness in the Family
- Chinese Patients With Cancer at the End of Life
- Family Conversations about MAID
- Grief in the Workplace
- I Did it My Way: Aging Well To The End
- Life's Last Chapter
- Living with Advanced Illness Brochure
- Living with Cancer Program
- Should My Child Attend the Funeral?
- Talking To Children about Life-Threatening Illness
- Teen Grief & Life-Threatening Illness in the Family
- The Grieving Colleague: 10 Do's and Don't's
- Palliative Care Resources
- When Grief Goes to School
- When the Holidays Hurt
Suggested Books
- Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul GawaBrocnde
- The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying by Nina Riggs
- The Grace in Dying: A Message of Hope, Comfort and Spiritual Transformation by Kathleen Dowling Singh
- Walking Each Other Home: Conversations on Loving and Dying by Ram Dass, Bush Mirabai
- When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
View the full bibliography







For those Planning Advanced Care at End of Life
Palliative Care at End of Life
- AHS Palliative Care Resource Listing
- Alberta Hospice Palliative Care Association
- Life's Last Chapter
- Living My Culture
- I Did it My Way: Aging Well To The End
- Memorial Society of Alberta
Financial Management
- Canada Pension Survivors Benefit
- Canadian Virtual Hospice: Patient Benefits
- Compassionate Benefits Program
Funeral Planning







For Professionals & Volunteers Working in Palliative Care
- Alberta Health Services Infection Prevention & Control
- Canadian Virtual Hospice
- Chinese Patients with Cancer at the End of Life
- Family Conversations about MAID
- Life's Last Chapter
- Living with Advanced Illness Brochure
- Musings of a Hospice Chaplain
- My Health Alberta: Palliative and End of Life Care
- St. John Ambulance and The Order of St. Lazarus
Our Practice at Rosedale Hospice
Mindfulness Practice
- Centre for Mindfulness in Medicine Health Care and Society
- Local Learning & Practice Opportunities
- New York Zen Centre for Contemplative Care
- Room Blessing
- Shift Change Blessing
- University of Rochester Medical Centre Family Medicine Mindful Practice
- Upaya Zen Centre
Suggested Books
- A Place of Healing by Joni Eareckson Tada
- A Year to Live by Stephen Levine
- Being with Dying by Joan Halifax, Ira Byock
- Crossing Over: Narratives of Palliative Care by David Barnard
- Dying Well by Ira Byock
- Heal Thy Self: Lessons on Mindfulness in Medicine by Saki Santorelli
- Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery by Linda E. Carlson, Michael Speca
- My Grandfather's Blessings : Stories of Strength, Refuge, and Belonging by Rachel Naomi Remen
- Resilience in Palliative Care Achievement in Adversity by Barbara Monroe
- The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully by Frank Ostaseki
- The Illness Narratives: Suffering, Healing, And The Human Condition by Arthur Kleinman
- The Nature of Suffering: And the Goals of Medicine by Eric J. Cassell
- Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying by Stephen Levine, Ondrea Levine
- With the End in Mind by Kathryn Mannix







For Professionals & Volunteers Working with Children, Teens and Families
- Canadian Virtual Hospice
- Children's Grief Centre Brochure
- Informing a Child of a Death
- Living with Advanced Illness Brochure
- KidsGrief.ca
- MyGrief.ca
Suggested References
- Continuing Bonds: New Understandings of Grief by Dennis Klass
- Never Too Young to Know: Death in Children's Lives by Phyllis Rolfe Silverman
- Predictors and Parameters of Resilience to Loss: Toward an Individual Differences Model by A. D. Mancini, G. A. Bonanno
- The Dual Process Model of Coping with Bereavement by M. Stroebe, H. Schut
- The Grieving Person's Bill of Rights by Alan Wolfelt
View the full grief bibliography