Achieving holistic, quality-of-life focused care: description of a Compassion Care Community initiative in Canada.

The compassionate communities movement is a social and holistic approach to care that engages community members in caring for others. The movement is growing around the world. The philosophy is that all citizens benefit from participating in care for others who are aging, disabled, nearing end-of-life or struggling with determinants of health. The Windsor-Essex Compassion Care Community (WECCC) is a Canadian example of this model. WECCC seeks to improve the health of people at any stage of life by helping them to identify their life needs and goals and providing them support to meet them. The program has two core components: one-on-one volunteer-support for person-directed goals and navigation (Catalyzing Community Connections) and public education sessions about loneliness and social connection (Importance of Being Connected). Evaluation is a routine part of program delivery with questionnaires, interviews and focus groups used to understand the program's outcomes. From 2017 to 2020, WECCC has worked with over 2,500 individuals, 65 organizations and 400 volunteers. Satisfaction with the program is very high (95%). Nearly all participants reported positive changes to their quality of life (82%) and social connections (95%). Although pilot results are favorable, continued evaluation and stronger research designs are needed to comprehensively evaluate the WECCC program over time and to support growth and spread of the model.