Going Home to Die was a collaboration between researchers at the Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care in Toronto and two innovation designers to co-create a participatory installation for DesignTO with the goal of engaging the public in learnings from a mixed methods study on the transition from palliative care in the hospital to palliative care services in the home. Going Home to Die leveraged learnings from research that examined this transition from the patient and caregiver perspective highlighting their expectations of the transition before hospital discharge, and comparing their expectations to the reality of the transition once home. Going Home to Die provided a unique opportunity to engage a wide-audience in the research creating public awareness of the patient and caregiver experience and making visible the systemic challenges that make this experience even more difficult. The installation invited the audience to interact with and contribute to the installation resulting in a dynamic installation that reflects the ever shifting and uncertain experience of the patient and caregiver.

​The installation invited participants to share their wishes and/or worries for dying at home, whether grounded in a past experience or speculating to a future one. Critical new insights emerged from the wish and worry cards and were only possible by bringing people directly into the process. 

Going Home to Die was created in collaboration with Sarina R. Isenberg, MA PhD and Stephanie Saunders, MA MSc. PT/ PhD and an advisory team that included patients and health care providers.

Learn more about Dr. Isenberg’s work here.