Home Safe
Barry Kazimer
, Jude Castillo
, Cassandra Schiemann
, Kirsten Lyon
, Marissa Yip-Young
, Linda Leitch
, Marilyn Stanley
, Faye Lilley
, Natasa Ilic
, Shayla Bradley
, Deana Bueley
, Yolande Thivierge
, Mary Therrien
, Deb Philippon
, Dani Kat
, Hoda Montazeri
, Noelle Walsh
, Margo Beredjiklian
, Joe Mitchell
, Sabrina Phan
, Leila Grobel
, Liam Lockhart-Rush
, Andrea Pole
, Sarah Schwartz
, Andrea Gillespie
, Vanessa Charbonneau-Dinelle
, Paula Adam
, Sandra Furlotte
, Hayley Chandler
, Nora Gould
, Sandra Perry
, Precious St John
, Debra Fisher
, LJ Law
, Faythe Lou
, Kellie Chouinard
, zelda dwyer
, kim mcintyre
, Alice Meems
, Jennifer Beyak
, Natalie McCallum
, Marilyn Cassidy
, Tim Chandler
, Marin Beck
, Grace Novack
, Lynn Andrews
, Pearl Saban
, Crystal Inwood
, Dana Trickett
, Rodney Cross
, Rosa Cross
, Benita Hartwell
, Jane Graham
, Heather Belliveau
, Melissa Poremba
, Christine Lion
, Kate Trgovac
, Sandra Storey
, Janet Meisner
, Randi Ann Doll
, Robert Hykawy
, Janice Cournoyer
, Kim Fenton
, Catherine Young
, Lynn Bechtel
, Paula Ritchie
, Kathleen Mary Kilmer
, Karen Nordrum
, Rhona Brinkman
, Kim Cappellina
, Remi Gunn
, Ken Gilmour
, Tahmina Afshar
, Emma Côté
, Joan Clare
, Caitlin Matos
, Dinah Laprairie
, Frank Talaber
, Shelley Gibbs
, Chris Carvalho
, Patricia Johnson
, Susan Fitzgerald
, Janet Miller
, Kevin Smith
, Christopher Rossignol
, Thelma Ball
, Joshua Lewis
, Colleen Coco Collins
, Shawna Moodie
editor@49thShelf.com
In April 2020, journalist Mitchell Consky received bad news: his father was diagnosed with a rare and terminal cancer, with less than two months to live. Suddenly, he and his extended family—many of them healthcare workers—were tasked with reconciling the social distancing required by the Covid-19 pandemic with a family-based approach to end-of-life care. The result was a home hospice during the first lockdown. Suspended within the chaos of medication and treatments were dance parties, episodes of Tiger King, and his father’s many deadpan jokes. Leaning into his journalistic intuitions, Mitchell interviewed his father daily, making audio recordings of final talks, emotional goodbyes, and the unexpected laughter that filled his father’s final days. Serving as a catalyst for fatherly affection, these interviews became an opportunity for emotional confession during the slowed-down time of a shuttered world, and reflect how far a family went in making a dying loved one feel safe at home.
