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Critically examining diversity in end-of-life family caregiving: implications for equitable caregiver support and Canada's Compassionate Care Benefit
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Family (i.e., unpaid) caregiving has long been thought of as a 'woman's issue', which ultimately results not only in gendered, but also financial and health inequities. Because of this, gender-based analyses have been prioritized in caregiving research. However, trends in current feminist scholarship demonstrate that gender intersects with other axes of difference, such as culture, socio-economic status, and geography to create diverse experiences. In this analysis we examine how formal front-line palliative care providers understand the role of such diversities in shaping Canadian family caregivers' experiences of end-of-life care. In doing so we consider the implications of these findings for a social benefit program aimed at supporting family caregivers, namely the Compassionate Care Benefit (CCB).
This analysis contributes to a utilization-focused evaluation of Canada's CCB, a social program that provides job security and limited income assistance to Canadian family caregivers who take a temporary leave from employment to provide care for a dying family member at end-of-life. Fifty semi-structured phone interviews with front-line palliative care providers from across Canada were conducted and thematic diversity analysis of the transcripts ensued.
Findings reveal that experiences of caregiving are not homogenous and access to services and supports are not universal across Canada. Five axes of difference were commonly raised by front-line palliative care providers when discussing important differences in family caregivers' experiences: culture, gender, geography, lifecourse stage, and material resources. Our findings reveal inequities with regard to accessing needed caregiver services and resources, including the CCB, based on these axes of difference.
We contend that without considering diversity, patterns in vulnerability and inequity are overlooked, and thus continually reinforced in health policy. Based on our findings, we demonstrate that re-framing categorizations of caregivers can expose specific vulnerabilities and inequities while identifying implications for the CCB program as it is currently administered. From a policy perspective, this analysis demonstrates why diversity needs to be acknowledged in policy circles, including in relation to the CCB, and seeks to counteract single dimensional approaches for understanding caregiver needs at end-of-life. Such findings illustrate how diversity analysis can dramatically enhance evaluative health policy research.
KeywordsDiversity Caregiving Canada End-of-life Qualitative Compassionate Care Benefit
Compassionate Care Benefit
Human resources and skills development Canada.
Determining who provides care, whether paid or unpaid, is a complex and dynamic process embedded within socially- and politically- defined sets of expectations and practices regarding rights and responsibilities[1, 2]. Among Western nations, neoliberal policies and resulting health care reforms are increasingly shifting this responsibility of care from the state to the voluntary and informal sectors[3]. This shift has resulted in an increased deinstitutionalization of care, moving caregiving out of formal settings like hospitals and into the community, especially the home. As a result, greater expectations are now being placed on those within the home, largely family members and/or friends who are unpaid and untrained, to take on the role of providing care in this informal environment[3, 4, 5]. Generally, these family caregiversa provide physical and emotional care as well as care coordination, among other tasks, for those who are in need of support[6]. In Canada, family caregivers and the supports they provide have become the backbone of the health and long-term care systems[6], with estimates indicating that there are approximately 1.5-2 million family caregivers in Canada contributing up to $26 billion of unpaid care work annually[7, 8]. Due to a rapidly aging population and unprecedented numbers of citizens requiring end-of-life care, a growing number of these caregivers are being called upon to provide care for dying family members[9]. Considering the valuable role that these family caregivers play in the Canadian health care system, it is imperative we seek ways to ensure they have access to the supports that they need to provide care in a way that does not negatively impact their own health and wellbeing.
Although family caregiving at end-of-life can bring positive, empowering, and memorable experiences[10], it is also commonly associated with personal costs. Importantly, such costs are not distributed equally across society. For example, the shift of care from institutions to the home means that those who work within the home, largely women, are filling the gaps in labour and services that have been left by neo-liberal policies[1, 11]. Feminist scholars have long acknowledged that the role of family caregiving is largely taken up by women because they are often associated with the traditional gendered division of unpaid work within the home[1, 12, 13, 14]. Emphasizing the gendered aspect of care provision, Bondi (2008) describes how caring work is 'given' to women and that this often becomes a defining characteristic of their self-identity and lifework. Taking a closer look, however, it becomes apparent that women are not one homogenous group, but are complex and diverse individuals who simultaneously inhabit other distinct socioeconomic, cultural, political, and historical locations, and as such, their experiences of caregiving are likely to vary dramatically[15, 16]. Therefore, caregiving results not only in gendered inequities, but also complexly overlaps with other factors of social location that may result in particular economic and health inequities being experienced in light of giving care[13].
Taken together, the emotional, psychological, physical, and financial demands that occur as a result of family caregiving are commonly referred to as 'caregiver burden'[17]. For example, the mental drain associated with mastering vast amounts of new information on a range of complex issues (e.g., medication management, symptom observation) can be more than some caregivers are able to cope, thereby creating stress and ultimately burnout[18, 19]. The negative health impacts associated with such burdens are significant and have been reported in older spousal caregivers to increase mortality rates by 63% when compared to non-caregivers[20]. Inequities in income are also commonly experienced by family caregivers. For example, the Canadian Caregiver Coalition (2009) reports that these caregivers frequently incur more than $100 per month in direct costs (e.g., supplies, prescriptions, travel costs), which totals approximately $80 million in out-of-pocket costs paid by Canadian caregivers each year. For some, the dual responsibility of maintaining paid employment while providing care is challenging and such stress can further diminish the health of family caregivers and heighten caregiver burden[9, 19].
Importantly, the above-mentioned examples of negative health and economic impacts associated with caregiver burden are not experienced uniformly: inequities exist, which are shaped by vulnerability to stressors and exposure to risk[21]. Furthermore, family caregivers' abilities to cope with stress and burden and to access needed supports is largely shaped by the situated social/physical locations in which they live[1, 14, 22], which in turn, influences whether or not they experience negative health outcomes.
Canada's federal government responded to the need to lessen caregiver burden and better support the needs of family caregivers at end-of-life by implementing the Compassionate Care Benefit (CCB) program in January of 2004. The primary goal of the CCB is to alleviate financial burdens by providing income assistance and job security to workers who take temporary leave from employment to care for a terminally ill family member at risk of dying within 26 weeks[23]. Program recipients can receive up to 55% of their average insurable earnings, to a maximum of $485 per week, over a six-week period to provide care. Because Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) administers this program as an Employment Insurance special benefit, eligible applicants must demonstrate that their regular weekly earnings have decreased by more than 40% and that they have accumulated 600 insurable hours over the preceding 52-week period. Although estimates demonstrate that more than 1.5 million Canadians provide care for dying individuals annually[7], HRSDC reports that only 5,978 successful claims were made during the 2009/10 fiscal year[24]. One reason for the limited uptake is that those who are working part-time, are employed seasonally, or are unemployed are eliminated due to the eligibility criteria, thereby excluding many family caregivers. The design of the program itself is also thought to reinforce low uptake through lack of appeal to caregivers for a number of reasons, including that: support lasts for only six weeks, recipients must go through a two-week waiting period before benefits are initiated, and it is difficult to accurately prognosticate death within a 26-week window[25, 26, 27]. Aside from program-specific features, there exists a more critical obstacle to the CCB's successful uptake: the general lack of public awareness regarding the existence of the program[28, 29, 30]. Specifically, family caregivers are routinely not gaining access to information about the CCB program.
Considering that family caregivers, and particularly end-of-life family caregivers, play such a significant role in Canadian society, it is imperative to seek strategies that minimize or alleviate inequitable caregiver burden and the potential negative physical/mental/emotional health, employment, and financial outcomes it bestows, especially upon those who are most vulnerable[6, 9]. However, the diversity and differing vulnerabilities that exist within the caregiver population are rarely recognized in existing research and associated health and health-related policy. This signals the need for a re-framing of how we view caregivers and caregiving needs more generally, in order to develop effective policies and programs that recognize difference and account for inequities within this group. In relation to the CCB, what remains unexplored is how family caregivers' differing social/physical locations may be informing the underutilization of the program, or may be exposing specific groups to harsher uptake barriers than others. In this article, we pose the question: for whom is this program not working? We address this question through undertaking a diversity analysis that highlights how particular axes of difference may ultimately inform family caregivers' use of the CCB. More specifically, our objective is to examine family caregiving at the end-of-life in Canada from the perspective of formal front-line palliative care providers (e.g., community nurses, social workers) in order to gain a better understanding of the axes of difference directly impacting family caregivers' support opportunities, access, and outcomes. Front-line palliative care providers' employment allows them on-going access into the lived realities of numerous families experiencing death and dying. As such, they hold a broad and valuable experiential perspective from which to comment upon the general differences they observe between the family caregivers they interact with in their work. The results of our analysis are used to understand the implications of caregiver diversity for the CCB and also the need to re-frame how caregivers and caregiver needs are understood and acted upon in health and social policy more generally.
This analysis contributes to a larger evaluation study that aimed to gather the perspectives of the CCB program's key stakeholder groups, namely family caregivers, front-line palliative care providers, and human resources personnel, in order to offer policy-relevant recommendations for program improvement. The overarching methodology of the evaluative study is Patton's[31] utilization-focused evaluative approach, which aims to inform program improvements through the use of research findings with a specific emphasis upon "intended use by intended users"[20, 31], emphasis in original. Examining diversity within the caregiver experience was not an original objective of the CCB evaluation study, but rather emerged as an important issue from the evaluation study findings. Although family caregivers were interviewed for the larger evaluation, in this analysis we draw on interviews with front-line palliative care providers because they were able to 'step-back' from offering an experiential account of caregiving and comment more broadly on trends observed among those family caregivers they have worked with. These observations were informed by their employment, which offers them intimate access to lived realities of families experiencing death and dying.
Data collection
Fifty front-line palliative care providers were sought to participate in phone interviews from across Canada, ten from each of five provinces chosen to reflect Canada's linguistic and regional diversity: British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador. We purposely aimed to include participants from an array of workplace settings (e.g., administrative, clinical, home care) and occupational groups (e.g., nurses, physicians, social workers) in order to garner as much diversity in employment sectors as possible. Participants were required to be formal palliative care providers working in one of the target provinces whose employment placed them in direct contact with end-of-life family caregivers and/or care recipients. Prior to data collection, ethics approval was granted by the research ethics offices at Simon Fraser and McMaster Universities.
The recruitment strategy involved widely disseminating an information letter written in English and French that summarized the study purpose and participant inclusion criteria. The letter was sent to a number of palliative and hospice organizations in the target provinces asking them to share it with their own employees and other organizations in their networks. Interested potential participants were asked to reply by e-mail or call a toll-free number to schedule an interview in either English or French at a time convenient for them.
Front-line palliative care provider participants by occupational grouping
Number of participants
Social Worker
Palliative Care Director / Coordinator
Clinical/Oncology/Palliative Nurse
Community Health/Home Care Nurse
Chaplain/ Pastoral Care
Volunteer Coordinator
Facility Patient Care Manager
National Nursing Officer
Nurse Coordinator
Occupational Therapist (Home Care)
Employment experience of the front-line palliative care provider participants
Years of employment experience in palliative care
Number of participants
Less than 1 year
1 to 5 years
6 to 10 years
11 to 15 years
16 to 20 years
Over 20 years
Forty-nine interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim, and one was recorded through note taking due to this participant's preference to not be recorded. Transcripts and notes were entered into NVivo7™ data management software and thematic analysis was conducted. Thematic analysis involves identifying dominant emergent themes in the data that are then used as categories for analysis[32]. Emerging from the larger evaluative study findings was the main theme of 'diversity' among caregivers and caregiving experiences. Thus, a secondary analysis was performed upon the front-line palliative care provider data set using a critical diversity method.
To enact a critical diversity analysis we first developed a coding scheme that integrated both inductive and deductive perspectives informed by Hankivsky, et al.'s[33] definitions of social categories. Our six-step process of coding involved: (1) reviewing three randomly selected transcripts to identify initial themes regarding diversity; (2) drafting a full coding scheme; (3) revising the full coding scheme following further transcript review for confirmation; (4) coding five transcripts; (5) reviewing coded transcripts in order to refine the scheme (e.g., collapsing redundant themes); and (6) coding the entire dataset with the refined scheme. In order to enhance consistency of interpretation, multiple investigators were involved in implementing the six-step coding process, as well as in reviewing the associated coding extracts that were used to inform the present analysis.
Our critical diversity analysis draws upon the emergent inductive codes of 'culture', 'gender', and 'geography', among others, as well as a number of deductive sub-codes such as 'family caregivers – differences in – culture' and 'family caregivers – differences in – gender'. Reviewing these particular coding extracts, we determined as a group the scope, limitations, and interrelationships within and between each axis of diversity, creating an interpretive framework for understanding how each was understood by the interviewees. Our approach to doing this was informed by Young's notion of seriality[34], which disrupts the notion that 'groups' are to be organized by single-dimensional characteristics (e.g., women), and emphasizes that people are individuals in a 'series' with their positioning based on various sets of material and immaterial social constructs. In addition to this, our analysis was also informed by the intersectionality work of Hankivsky et al.[33], which requires consideration of simultaneous interactions between different aspects of social identity as well as the impact of systems and processes of oppression and domination. Our approach of intersectionality used in this analysis is grounded in lived experiences, while providing a theoretical foundation for the pursuit of social justice. Importantly, we did not begin with predetermined categories of difference that were of interest to us, but instead relied on these axes to emerge from the data through undertaking the coding and analyses processes. Following our consensus regarding the interpretation of various axes of difference that emerged, we moved to identify ways in which these particular diversities matter for the CCB specifically and other caregiver support programs more broadly.
Operating definitions employed in the diversity analysis
Axis of difference
Operating definition
the totality of the ideas, beliefs, values, knowledge, and way of life of a group of people who share certain historical, religious, racial, linguistic, ethnic and/or social backgrounds
the manner in which a society defines and constrains the array of socially constructed roles and relationships, personality traits, attitudes, behaviours, values, relative power and influences based on a differential basis of being a 'woman' or 'man'
the physical and social places in which various activities happen that are shaped by actions, processes, and other powerful happenings occurring both within and beyond them
Lifecourse Stage
the sequence of socially defined events and roles that individuals enact over the progression of their life from birth to death
Material Resources
the tangible goods and consumables and the means by which they are purchased, wherein an absence of these resources can result in material deprivation
Our findings indicate that front-line palliative care providers perceive cultural differences to play a major role in influencing experiences of family caregiving at end-of-life, especially when personal beliefs contrast with the clinical culture of the Canadian health care system. For example, an occupational therapist noted that in her region "a lot of our doctors are not from the area or even from Canada, so I guess the biggest cultural barrier is between the doctors and the patients themselves." Participants discussed how families from various cultural groups can have differing understandings, priorities, and/or needs, thus requiring additional support in order to achieve quality end-of-life care. As an example, a palliative care coordinator explained that she had worked with a family of Chinese heritage who did not want a death to occur in their home as this was believed to negatively affect the value of the home, both spiritually and financially. In this case, cultural preferences had informed decisions regarding the place of care and ultimately death.
Generally, participants believed that caregiver supports (e.g., psychosocial, religious, spiritual, bereavement) needed to accommodate families from differing cultural backgrounds as much as possible. Emphasizing the complexity of this task, however, a palliative care nurse remarked "[t]here's lots to recognizing the different cultures and how different people approach dying, how they want their family members to approach it. [But] do they [care recipients and family caregivers] ever want to talk about it?" Lack of discussion about cultural needs may result in some family caregivers not having access to needed supports. For example, several participants explained that First Nations or Métis family caregivers and care recipients should always be asked if they have any spiritual and cultural needs related to end-of-life or family caregiving, such as performing a sweet grass or smudging ceremonyb. The challenge here, however, is that front-line providers must first be able to discern which families are First Nation or Métis in order to ask them if they would like such supports. One's cultural heritage, however, may not always be easily recognizable; therefore, such an approach relies heavily on self-identification (i.e., explicitly presenting oneself as First Nations or Métis to others). As self-identification may not always be appropriate or desirable, First Nation or Métis may face barriers in accessing supports that meet their cultural needs.
As per the definition of culture used for this analysis, language is one of the many various cultural components discussed by participants. Participants raised language as an important issue in the experience of caregiving, specifically with regard to language barriers and caregivers' abilities to access necessary information and supports. These comments were often raised with regard to newcomers to Canada, where participants stressed that not being able to communicate is a major barrier to determining caregiver needs. A social worker explained that: "the challenge sometimes is getting someone who speaks English [in the home]. And sometimes the ones who do speak English are working, while it's the sister-in-law or the daughter-in-law, the one that's providing all the care, that doesn't speak English, so we use translators a lot." However, communication through a translator was seen as problematic, especially if information was being "filtered" through another family member because details may become exaggerated upon or simply left out. It was also noted that language barriers can create major informational needs and thus increase the risk of caregiver burnout and stress as these caregivers can be hesitant to seek out the help they need.
Traditionally, and still today, the role of family caregiver is largely ascribed to women. Unsurprisingly, participants confirmed this as a clear observation from their work experiencec. Some participants, however, stated that they have noticed a recent increase in men taking on caregiving responsibilities, though not necessarily as the primary caregiver. As a social worker explained, "[t]he reality is that there is a gender bias still in our society, so women are still primarily the family caregivers, they're primarily the child-rearers. There are many, many men who are doing those things, but women are still primarily in that role." Participants widely agreed with this view, explaining that they perceived societal expectations to still fall more heavily upon women to provide care within the home, thus resulting in the majority of the family caregivers they interacted with being women. In some situations, participants also observed women who were not immediate family, for example a daughter-in-law or sister-in-law, providing care, which further demonstrates the extent of gendered implications associated with caregiving expectations.
Although it was clear that participants were cautious to convey gendered generalizations, some did believe that differences existed between men and women with regard to caregiving styles. For example, this community health care nurse explained that:
"Female caregivers are more in tune to the person's physical needs, whereas male caregivers tend to get very organized and business-like about it. You know, they'll pull together little flow-charts and books and sort of stand back and let me deal with the things like bowel care and hygiene… I find that men have a really hard time with that personal care aspect."
Given such observations, it is not surprising that some participants raised gender-specific caregiving needs. These participants felt that it was men, rather than women, who required extra support in order to successfully fulfill their role as a family caregiver. For example, a palliative care coordinator stated that in some cases, challenges arise when a woman who has always taken care of everything in the home is dying and in need of care "and the husband doesn't have a clue how to, you know, do anything…" This sentiment was echoed by a home care nurse who stated that sometimes "[m]en…looking after women, where the woman has been the manager of the house, need a lot more information on managing home situations than a woman might." Considering these findings, it becomes apparent that gender and gendered expectations regarding behaviour play a role in determining caregiver support needs.
Several front-line palliative care providers discussed the impact that geographic differences have on the experience of family caregiving at end-of-life. Specifically, they felt that where one lives determines access to services. The most prominent differences were raised by participants working in Newfoundland and Labradord who believed that the relatively isolated location of this lightly populated province created unique challenges for families in terms of accessing end-of-life care supports compared to the rest of Canada. Several participants from this province explained that a rapidly aging population, in conjunction with the increased outmigration of the youth, has left few able bodied family caregivers to draw from for support. As an oncology nurse remarked:
"[t]he situations in our province, they[caregivers]thin out quite a bit because of migrations, and smaller family size and that kind of stuff. We have a lot of people living in smaller areas who really have nobody around them now. Or the people around them are very elderly and no better off themselves, or able to care for the person who's dying."
Those participants working in rural communities throughout Canada also identified unique challenges for caregivers associated with low populations residing across vast distances, which results in fewer resources being made available and long commutes to access needed supports. Participants from rural communities also commented on the extra costs family caregivers from these areas must endure in order to travel to-and-from urban centers to access supplies and services.
Another geographic difference that emerged from the interviews involves the place where care and ultimately death occurs, such as the hospital, hospice, or home. According to participants, the preferred place of care and death was said to differ according to each family's wishes, though generally family caregivers preferred to have the care recipient stay at home for as long as possible. Regardless of these preferences, it was noted that decisions regarding the location of care were almost always made based on the level of access to supports and the resources caregivers had to draw from. However, because of a lack of access to needed supports and resources within the home, participants felt that some family caregivers are left with no option but to move care recipients to formal settings such as a hospital palliative unit. Especially approaching the very end-of-life, participants expressed that continuous support is required and thus family caregivers who do not have resources or access to supports will need to cease providing care in the home. A palliative care coordinator explained that '…as a healthcare professional…I think there would be a lot more caregiving going on in the homes if we could support more people to caregive for their family." As such, one's geographic location in relation to supports and services plays a critical role in enabling care provision in certain environments, such as the home.
Lifecourse stage
Participants made a number of comments indicating that where a caregiver was situated in his/her lifecourse, versus her/his specific age, significantly impacted the types of supports required by family caregivers at end-of-lifee. Participants stated that care recipients are generally elderly, over the age of 80, and that it was common to find spouses providing end-of-life care, resulting in what one nurse explained as "seniors taking care of seniors." Explicitly commenting on the differences in stages of the lifecourse among family caregivers, one social worker stated that:
"…if they[caregivers]are seniors…you're going to be dealing with perhaps a caregiver who has health problems too and so may not have the physical stamina or ability to give intensive care…if the person[care recipient]has a high care need, it may be overwhelming to the spouse."
On the other hand, it was sometimes mentioned that because elderly spousal caregivers are typically retired or career homemakers, they are viewed as ideally situated to provide care because there will be no disruption to employment or income levels.
Although many end-of-life family caregivers were thought to be elderly, several participants explained that it is not uncommon for children to take on the role of caregiving for dying parents. This was thought to be concerning if the daughter/son caregiver also had a family with young children of their own to care for. It was explained that family caregivers who find themselves in this 'sandwich generation' are likely to experience conflicting familial roles, which results in particular challenges, stresses, and support needs, such as child care. Concerns were also raised regarding family caregivers from younger families where one spouse is at the end-of-life and the other is providing their care. Again, participants explained that this scenario is incredibly challenging for families where young children are involved. A broad concern regarding these lifecourse-related scenarios is that younger families were thought to be more vulnerable financially than older ones: "…with a younger family, if one of the spouses is the one who's dying and is unable to work, and it has been a two income family, that's a huge impact on the family if they're losing one income." As a result, younger families are said to require more support in terms of financial and job security: "Especially our young families, they need to know that they are going to have job security, and resources, financial resources for the time period that they're going to be off [from paid employment to provide care]." The provision of such security is muddied by the fact that caregiving at end-of-life rarely follows a predictable trajectory.
Material resources
Although 'socio-economic status' is an axis of difference often highlighted in diversity analyses, in this study participants' comments pertained mostly to the specific circumstance of access to material resources rather than the broader category of socio-economic status. Many front-line palliative care providers emphasized how variations in families' access to material resources, such as income, equipment, medication, and formal respite and home care support, resulted in dramatic differences in the caregiving experience. As one social worker said, "we say that homecare is universal [in Canada], but it's not really universal. It's based on your finances and what you're able to provide in terms of concrete help…" There are many extra financial costs associated with providing care for a dying family member in the home, such as making home renovations and purchasing, renting, and/or installing medical equipment. A palliative home care nurse commented on these costs:
"I think that caring for someone in their own home is expensive. And I don't think we look into that enough, because…they've[caregiver]taken time off from work, they don't have an income, and then they've got all these extra things that they have to get. They have to buy a walker; they have to get a wheelchair – none of that is something that we provide."
Participants were particularly concerned about families who do not have private medical insurance and therefore are required to pay in full for needed supplies and other items, which in some cases places families in great financial stress. An oncology nurse shared one of her experiences of working with a family that experienced financial hardship as a result of caregiving responsibilities:
"…I saw that disease destroy, financially ruin, people. Because before they were diagnosed with the disease, they had a bit of money. They were…middle class people with a little bit of money in the bank. And by the time the person affected with the disease ended up dying, the family had nothing left… When the person died, they couldn't afford to take the body home…and that was the only time they received a bit of help, was when they had to go to social services to get the body home. It's devastating."
Participants pointed out that financial pressure may place increased stress on family caregivers, thereby negatively affecting their health.
Some family caregivers' inabilities to access material resources, particularly medications, respite care, and transportation, results in inequitable care outcomes. For example, a palliative care coordinator said that "quite often patients are suffering because they [caregivers] don't have the money to buy medications." Such a situation may not only be disheartening for the care recipient, but also the caregiver who is unable to manage pain and relieve distress. Access to in-home respite support was also believed by many participants to be a resource that greatly affected caregivers' abilities to manage their role through mitigating the risk of caregiver burnout. With regard to family caregivers' need for respite support, a social worker stated that "if we're sending people [care recipients] home with the expectation that they're having 24 hour care, it's only realistic if that person [family caregiver] gets some time to breathe as well." Many participants commented on how unavailable this support generally is for Canadians, not only due to costs, but also to geographic issues whereby in many rural and remote areas respite support is simply not an option. Furthermore, access to transportation was discussed as being a material necessity for family caregivers in order to take care-recipients to appointments. However, not all caregivers have reasonable access to transportation, let alone a vehicle that can accommodate the space and comfort requirements of a care recipient.
Our analysis of 50 interviews with front-line palliative care providers reveals that acknowledging diversity among Canadian family caregivers is an important aspect of understanding the caregiving experience. Apparent is that front-line palliative care providers observed cultural, gendered, geographic, lifecourse stage, and material differences between family caregivers, shaping the types of experiences caregivers have as well as the supports they have access to. These axes of difference also reveal segments of the caregiver population that may be particularly vulnerable to experiencing inequities with regard to accessing needed services and resources. These groups include non-English or non-French-speakers, cultural minorities, rural residents, employed caregivers who are women, caregivers who are men, caregivers with young children, and those who do not have or are unable to purchase meaningful material supports. Given that having adequate access to services and resources serves to lessen exposure to caregiver burden[38, 39], it is quite likely that these groups also have increased risk of negative health outcomes as a result of taking on a caregiving role. Furthermore, vulnerability to caregiver stress, burden, and negative health outcomes may be amplified for those whose lived reality overlaps multiple segments of these particular population groups. Without considering diversity, such patterns in vulnerabilities and inequities would simply be overlooked, and ultimately, continually reinforced[33].
Implications for the CCB
Implications for the CCB program
Axis of difference
CCB implications
Language: Limited access to information on CCB outside of English and French
(New) Immigrants: Linguistic and cultural barriers may limit caregivers' abilities to complete applications forms or front-line providers' abilities to convey program information
Eligibility: Women are more likely to be ineligible for the CCB due to employment circumstances while more likely to serve as family caregivers
Utilization: Men are proportionally underrepresented among successful CCB applicants, which suggests that the program may not meet their needs
Travel: Costs for travel, local or otherwise, to provide care are not covered by the CCB program
Place of Care and Death: Lack of formal support may discourage potential or on-going family caregivers from providing care in the home when receiving the CCB
Lifecourse Stage
Elderly: Retired caregivers are not eligible for the CCB program
Young Families: Costs for child care support are not covered by the CCB program
Material Resources
Homecare: High costs to provide care in the home are not covered by the CCB program
Supply Costs: High costs of services and supplies for caregivers without medical insurance are not covered by the CCB
The CCB is commonly thought of as a positive step towards broadly meeting the needs of Canada's end-of-life family caregivers[26]. However, this analysis has shown that individuals who fall within this broad demographic are likely to experience barriers to accessing this support. For example, though Canada is renowned for its multicultural landscape[41], formal (i.e., government-sponsored) information about the CCB and its application forms are only available in English and French[23]. This leaves front-line palliative care providers and community groups to play a significant role in informing groups such as new immigrants and linguistic minorities about the program through websites and fact-sheets. However, interviewees clearly pointed out that informational access to the CCB can be hindered if front-line providers are unable to communicate well enough with family caregivers to assess their needs, which may result in them not informing families of the CCB's existence or assisting them with completing the application form. Here, cultural brokers and translators may be able to play a valuable role.
As we have noted above, research has repeatedly demonstrated that women are most likely to become family caregivers at end-of-life in Canada; however, it is also women who are least likely to be eligible for the CCB. In Canada, women generally make up the majority of stay-at-home parents and part-time workers and thus are less likely than men to contribute to Employment Insurance and be able to draw upon its programs[27]. Although we might expect women to have lower uptake of the CCB, program utilization data show that they do indeed make up the majority of CCB claimants[30]. These same data also show that women receive on average lower weekly benefit payments than men[42], which is a direct result of women applicants having more limited salaries. These utilization data point to an interesting set of paradoxes: while women are generally less likely than men to be eligible for the CCB due to having more limited labour market participation, they are actually more likely than men to receive the Benefit; and, while men are likely to receive greater financial support while on the CCB- due to higher salaries, they are less likely than women to actually use the program and thus may be underutilizing the Benefit relative to their labour market participation. Such circumstances create clear implications for the CCB, the solutions for which extend well beyond the scope of the program.
The interviews revealed that geography, particularly differences in access to services and the presence of family caregivers between places, is a significant axis of difference in the caregiving experience. For example, interviewees reported that Newfoundland and Labrador's rapidly aging population and concurrent high rates of youth out-migration has generally resulted in the elderly caregiving for the elderly. This demographic trend has been well established in statistical reports[43]. Although this region is in great need of caregiver support, the CCB as it is currently administered does not cover nor supplement the cost of travel for family members to relocate for care provision. Furthermore, at a more localized level, travel within or between communities to gather supplies and access medical appointments is also not covered by the program. Such realities may require family caregivers in these locations to use CCB program monies to offset travel costs.
Participants viewed one's lifecourse stage to greatly impact the caregiving experience, including a caregiver's need for particular types of support such as the CCB. Importantly, participants commented that younger "sandwich generation" caregivers are more likely to be participating in the workforce while providing care, thus heightening their financial vulnerability. As such, the CCB may be best suited for meeting some of these caregivers' needs by ensuring their jobs are secured while providing some financial assistance. Participants also explained that it was common for younger caregivers to need access to child care while providing end-of-life family caregiving. However, the CCB does not provide a child care allowance, which may result in some relying on the financial assistance of the CCB to cover child care costs rather than truly supplementing income. Because the CCB does not consider circumstances regarding the loss of dual incomes, or the shifting of child care responsibilities due to caregiving demands, working-aged family caregivers may not find the CCB to be a viable option to meet their financial needs.
Finally, many participants emphasized how variations in access to material resources, such as medication, equipment, and respite care, result in noticeable differences in the caregiving experience. Access to such resources was thought to impact caregivers' quality of life as well as decisions regarding where care should take place. As it is currently administered, the CCB provides relatively limited financial assistance (up to a maximum of $485 per week). This minimal level of income support has been viewed by many as major deterrent for caregivers to utilize the CCB[25, 27, 44]. The financial costs associated with purchasing equipment, supplies, and medications can be relatively high for some caregivers, and the financial assistance provided by the CCB may not be meeting their financial support needs. Moreover, it has been found that caregiving can potentially enhance the risk of poverty as it contributes to high levels of stress and associated negative health outcomes, which in turn affects caregivers' abilities to return to paid employment[45].
Intersecting differences – a future research direction
It is important to explicitly recognize that every caregiving situation is different and that every caregiver has unique concerns and difficulties[46]. However, dominant approaches to caregiving research and policy to date have failed to adequately acknowledge issues of diversity or what diversity in the experiences of caregivers might mean for existing programs and/or services, or for advancement in policy. In this research, we have moved beyond many other studies by explicitly teasing apart the axes of difference reported on by participants and organizing them into separate categories for the purpose of conducting a critical diversity analysis. Advancing feminist thought, and keeping in line with intersectionality scholarship, however, we do recognize that these axes of difference are inherently linked, which in turn structurally shape one's social/physical location and thus influence one's caregiving experience. Reflecting this complexity, intersectional scholars (for example, see[36, 47, 48]) observe that no single dimension of diversity or difference should be given favour but that, instead, researchers should consider simultaneous interactions between these dimensions[47, 48, 49]. In other words, it may not be a caregiver's experience as a woman that exposes her to the most significant inequities, even though this axis tends to receive the most attention in the caregiving literature[13, 14, 15, 16]. Rather, it may be her collective inability to speak English or French, residence in a rural community, and lack of access to appropriate medical equipment intersecting with gender that determine support needs and in particular, whether or not programs like the CCB are effective in meeting them. Following from the current analysis, there is a need for caregiving research to examine and articulate such intersections among axes of difference in order to adequately consider and address existing inequities as well as the underlying structures of power that reinforce them.
Our findings shed light upon some major differences that exist among family caregivers that can dramatically shape caregiving experiences and access to meaningful supports. However, this is simply the first step and this analysis serves to signal the need to further pursue this line of inquiry, including the application of social justice approaches, in future caregiving research and policy creation. Attention to diversity and inequity is slowly beginning to emerge in the caregiving literature (see[50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55]). For example, in their examination of foreign domestic care workers, Hsuing and Nichol[53] argue that the complexity of the experiences of these workers "cannot be fully captured simply by examining any single axis of their identity; it requires an examination of the intersections of race, class, and gender" (p.773). To the best of our knowledge, intersectionality has yet to be applied to the context of end-of-life caregiving. Based on our findings and the traction they hold for more general examinations of care work, an intersectional analysis shows great promise in advancing knowledge in relation to end-of-life caregiving, and in the longer term may provide evidence that will be the basis of much needed critical challenges to Canadian policy in this area, as well as policies in other countries that rely heavily on the labour of unpaid family caregivers.
This study has three main limitations. First, we use the perspectives of front-line palliative care providers to draw conclusions about family caregivers. Although this was done purposely because front-line palliative care providers have exposure to a range of family caregivers and can comment on this, the analysis misses out on the experiential comments that can be offered by family caregivers themselves. This serves as an important direction for future research. Second, our reliance on phone interviewing means that we were unable to observe nuances of facial expression and other subtleties that in-person interviewing allows. However, we used phone interviews because they are cost effective, particularly given our cross-country sample, and are known to yield reliable data[56, 57] and so we are not concerned that this limitation has had a negative impact on the analysis. Third, as there is no population- or national-level data that characterizes the full spectrum of front-line palliative care providers, we cannot know how representative our participants are of this health worker group. As our study is qualitative in nature, we do not actually seek representativeness to achieve overall generalizability, but rather the transferability of the findings. Given this, the lack of population- or national-level data did not serve as a true limitation in our research.
Through conducting a critical diversity analysis, a nuanced portrait of the complex realities experienced by Canadian family caregivers within the context of end-of-life care has been revealed in this article. It is important to note, however, that this analysis considers front-line palliative care providers' perspectives, and not those of the family caregivers themselves, and so should be taken as such. Yet, front-line palliative care providers have valuable perspectives regarding the diversity of families experiencing death and dying and therefore should be considered in policy-related caregiving research. While most research in this field does not explicitly consider diversity, that which does tends to focus on one or two pre-defined axes, such as gender and/or economic status and/or culture[21, 58, 59]. While the findings of this study point to the importance of these axes, they also demonstrate that others are also of great significance in shaping the caregiving experience, such as geography and lifecourse stage. We see these findings as a critical first step in exploring what meaningful differences exist among family caregivers and how these differences impact caregiving experiences at end-of-life. We believe that understanding these meaningful differences can inform the development of more effective and equitable policies and supports.
In this analysis we have helped to disrupt the common policy discourse that implies family caregiving is simply a gendered experience. In doing so we have provided input that not only can inform CCB improvement, but can also provide valuable insights on how policy-makers can most equitably meet the needs of family caregivers in Canada. Importantly, our findings also signal the need for a re-framing on how we view and categorize family caregivers and understand their needs. This involves recognizing that some groups of caregivers may be particularly vulnerable to caregiver burden or other negative health outcomes in addition to barriers to accessing needed supports. Finally, this analysis has helped to cast light upon the often invisible work of and hidden burdens experienced by family caregivers. Their effort, understanding, and compassion enables so many dying individuals to live out their final days with dignity[6]. It is thus imperative for us to recognize the extraordinary effort that is made every day by family caregivers who care for dying individuals with dedication and ensure that they are provided with all the means necessary to carry out this valuable work.
aIn this paper, we use the term family caregiver to refer to those family members, friends, and/or close others who informally provide care to a recipient, often without out pay.
bSmudging ceremonies involve the burning of clipped herbs, such as sweet grass, sage, or cedar to create a smoke that can be lightly brushed over one's body. This is done to cleanse one, both spiritually and physically, of any bad spirits or negative energy.
cAn analysis that offers further discussion on some of the geographic and gender differences highlighted in this article can be found in Giesbrecht et al. 2010.
dNewfoundland and Labrador is a province of Canada located on the Atlantic Coast.
eAlthough age is often related to one's experiences at various stages of the lifecourse, social experiences are not biologically determined by age, hence our decision to use lifecourse for this axis of difference.
Authors' information
MG is training as a health geographer and is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Geography at Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada. Her research focuses on exploring diversity among users of palliative care services/supports and identifying how 'place' intersects with subject positions to shape access, end-of-life experiences, and palliative care outcomes.
VAC is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at SFU. Trained as a health geographer, she primarily uses qualitative methods to examine issues pertaining to access to and use of health services.
AW is trained as a social geographer, specializing in health research addressing: health care services, quality of life, family caregiving, critical policy/program evaluation, and therapeutic landscapes. She currently is an Associate Professor at McMaster University (Canada).
OH is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Policy at SFU. She is the Director of the Institute for Intersectionality Research and Policy at SFU. She specializes in public policy and political theory and is an internationally recognized expert in gender mainstreaming, gender based analysis, health determinants, and intersectionality-based analysis.
We are thankful to all the participants who shared their time and perspectives with us and for the continued involvement of the Evaluation Taskforce. This study was funded by an Operating Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Copyright information
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


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Casting Real EMTS, Paramedics for Cinemax TV Pilot (Rock Hill, SC Area)
Casting Call Details:
Seeking 2 Real (actually working as or previously worked as) EMTS/Paramedics for filming Friday 12/12. Please take note of the date as it a week or two away. Reminder this will be filming in the general Rock Hill area -which could include an area nearby.
If you have such experience and would like to be considered for filming that date -please submit us the following:
A current photo/snapshot, your name, age, phone, height/weight for uniform purposes, city/state you reside and your EMT or Paramedic experience.
Shoot Date: Friday, 12/12
Location: Rock Hill, South Carolina
Pay Rate: TBD
Casting Call Submission Form:
SPECIAL OFFER: Save 30% off the regular price of Backstage, including Backstage.com and Backstage Magazine. Casting You Can Trust: Start your acting, modeling, and singing career today!
This Casting Call/Audition filed in: Casting Calls in Charlotte, NC / Paid Roles Casting Calls / TV Auditions and Casting Calls / TV Pilot Auditions

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GraphicRiver Nature Background with Green Grass and Flowers 7647951
Stock Vector \ Conceptual \ Business \ Backgrounds
Vector \ Background \ Gradient \ Formats \ Layered \ Graphicriver \ Almoond
Stock Vector - Nature Background with Green Grass and Flowers 7647951 by almoond @ GraphicRiver
Stock Vector \ Conceptual \ Business \ Backgrounds
Nature background with green grass and flowers and wooden sign. Vector. Fully editable, vector objects separated and grouped, gradient mesh used. If you need a layered PSD (Ai or any other file formats.) write it in the comments or send me an e-mail through this page: http://graphicriver.net/user/almoond
Layered: No; Graphics Files Included: JPG Image, Vector EPS; Minimum Adobe CS Version: CS.
Drop of Water Background ; Background with Butterflies; Three Saint Patricks Day Banners; Spring Background ; Nature Background; Spring Background ; Three Happy Easter Banners.
Keywords: background, beauty, board, bug, butterfly, card, close-up, closeup, color, colorful, concept, daisy, daisywheel, dandelion, eco, flora, floral, flower, focus, frame, fresh, freshness, garden, grass, green, label, ladybird, ladybug, leaf, life.


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Mike Christopher on The Jimmy Star Show Dawn of the Dead star to Guest Wed December 5th,2012
Hare Krishna zombie Mike Christopher from the original Dawn of the Dead to guest on The Jimmy Star Show live radio show. Listen online worldwide Wed December 5th, 2012 from 3-5 pm ET | 12-2 pm PT at w4cy.com Radio | Visit www.jimmystarshow.com
Mike Christopher is better known as the Hare Krishna devotee who was turned into a zombie by George Romero to play a lead zombie role in "Dawn Of The Dead" (((1978) the real one)) with slow zombies.))) Born in Pittsburgh, Michael was playing synthesizer for a theatrical rock band named "FLUID" and already had a bald head prior to getting selected for this role.
For those who don't know; the Hare Krishna Zombie character is seen walking in a shopping mall where the main characters have taken refuge. He just happens to be part of small group of zombies blocking the path of the leading male characters who are just beginning to search the mall for supplies. They decide to run thru the small school of zombies who were typically exhibiting a slow stagger to their shambling.
Excited by their success, they fail to notice that the Hare Krishna character did not turn to follow them like the others. The zombie finds the entrance to their lair then shambles down the hallway toward the stair well. The men go on a shopping spree completely unaware that their security has been compromised. The zombie climbs the stairs. Fran, the leading actress is all alone in the hideout. She hears the zombie on the stairs . . . while the shopping spree continues. Alone and without weapons Fran stacks boxes of emergency rations against the door which has no lock. The zombie pushes open the door, the zombie crosses the room and knocks over a stack of boxes in his attempt to reach Fran who lights a road flare which the zombie knocks from her hand. in a last ditch attempt to keep from being bitten Fran attempts to climb a ladder to the roof at which point the guys arrive. The zombie is finally put away with a resounding strike to the cranium and Fran is safe at last.
Shortly after filming Dawn of the Dead Michael left Pittsburgh for Los Angeles and performed laser light shows for Laserium and Laser Media. He was involved with colorizing black and white movies for Turner at Color Systems Technology and spent many years in Quality Assurance for Oberheim and Kurzweil electronic music instruments then for Digital Videotape Mastering in the Los Angeles area.
Moving to Florida in 1996 he was primarily occupied a graphic Artist thru 2007 when NECA came out with an Action Figure of his character. As luck would have it just about the same time, he was introduced to the Horror Convention circuit just in time for the 30th anniversary reunion of Dawn of the Dead. As luck would have it, he has since been invited to appear in a number of independent movies shooting in Florida including "The Uh-Oh Show," by Herschell Gordon Lewis, 2011 http://www.imdb.com/
and his first lead role in "Joe Vampire" by Sean Donohue and Mayber "NICHE" Trujillo to be released in 2013.
For a bit more info please visit his IMDb page at: http://www.imdb.com/
The Jimmy Star Show is pleased to showcase the expertise and talent of Mike Christopher and all anticipate a fun and informative time talking with him about his work, the entertainment industries, and the world. Join King of Cool Jimmy Star, Cool Man about Town Ron Russell and Cool Cat of Film Thomas Churchill as they have a playful and sometimes wild time with the talented featured guest!
To hear Mike Christopher live on The Jimmy Star Show tune in to W4CY Radio on Wednesday December 5th, 2012 from 3-5 pm ET and 12-2 pm PT online at www.w4cy.com from anywhere in the world.
The Jimmy Star Show is a Russell Star Production. The Jimmy Star Show only promotes guests and talents held in regard by executive producer Jimmy Star. The Jimmy Star Show is recorded live at the W4CY Radio station in Wellington, Florida. W4CY Radio is available through worldwide streaming live online via iTunes Radio or at w4cy.com and affiliates around the globe. W4CY Radio is brought to listeners by The Intertainment Network, and is ranked 13th in the world for internet talk radio listeners in over 155 countries.
The Jimmy Star Show is sponsored by
Anarchy Eyewear for men | Wear it. Believe it.
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The official site for W4CY Radio may be found at
For The Jimmy Star Show Podcast rebroadcast of past live shows visit
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We have about 15 unknown devices being scanned into our network and according to DHCP these are iphones or androids.
My question then is if I delete the device from the unknown devices and then check the box to say not to scan the device again. Will it know not to scan the phone? Or will it just not scan that ip address again?
As far as I can tell the only information that spiceworks has is that theres some device at this ip. So im worried if I say don't scan this device again and then lets say we have a PC connect on this IP it won't scan in.
edit - will mark the ip as best answer once i get an idea of what else we can do
Feb 7, 2012 at 2:49 UTC
Keep IT Simple Technology Group is an IT service provider.
The IP address.
This topic was created during version 5.3.
The latest version is 7.5.00101.
7 Replies
Feb 7, 2012 at 2:49 UTC
Keep IT Simple Technology Group is an IT service provider.
The IP address.
Feb 7, 2012 at 2:50 UTC
I have run into this issue before. All our regular equipment have static IP addresses so all I did was exclude the DHCP range of addresses from our scan. That way it ignores these temporary connections.
Feb 7, 2012 at 3:00 UTC
So in the past if I told it to IGNORE an address how do I get it to see that address again??? Most of my users are Dynamic only my backbone is Static IPs
Reason being I can not see a user on our system at this time the IP is not listed even though they are on the network and can use the internet.
Sorry about the NOOBish question.
Feb 7, 2012 at 3:03 UTC
So my next question is whats the best way to handle these phones?
Like Rick said...we were thinking of just making the phones static...so we could then know where they are instead of dynamically getting assigned an ip address
also rick how do you exclude the dhcp only?
Feb 7, 2012 at 6:56 UTC
So in the past if I told it to IGNORE an address how do I get it to see that address again???
Same here; how do we get that IP address to scan again?
Feb 8, 2012 at 7:35 UTC
in settings, if you go to the network scan options, under you scan ranges is a list of all the IPs you have excluded.
Just remove any of those from that list to get them to scan again
May 22, 2012 at 8:11 UTC
1st Post
"ignore vendor" would be a better option.. but seems to be not implemented
This discussion has been inactive for over a year.
You may get a better answer to your question by starting a new discussion.


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Excellent Addition
by email@example.com on 10/3/2006
Ordered this docking station to eliminate one of our desktop computers. Setup could not have been easier. Everything plugs in easily into the docking station. There are plenty of ports to use. The room is so quiet now running on the laptop instead of the tower.
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Can I End My Lease Because of Bedbug Infestation Without Penalties?
For a long time, bedbugs have not been considered a serious problem because they don't carry diseases. However, the fact is that they are nasty biting pests known to torment sleepers. They are a worldwide menace, and that's why many jurisdictions categorize them as vermin. Tenants in all the states in the United States, except Arkansas, are entitled to fit and habitable housing. The presence of vermin unquestionably renders any residence unfit and uninhabitable.
Pest control is the landlord's sole responsibility. The argument that the tenant introduced the bedbugs does not hold water as it's something hard to prove. Such an argument is also irrelevant because the law requires the landlord to provide a residence that meets basic health standards. Such legal requirement cannot be discarded.
The persistence of the problem of the infestation of bedbugs may mark the end of tenancy at the option of the tenant. You must exercise caution to avoid being slapped with penalties for breaching the tenancy agreement. You can only sever the tenancy without incurring legal costs if the landlord fails to address the problem after you have duly notified them.
The first step is gathering evidence of infestation. It's pretty easy to do this as you can spot bedbugs hiding in mattresses, beddings and furniture. Bites, skin irritations and blood stains in beddings and mattresses also indicate the presence of bedbugs. You can take photos of the bedbugs that you spot. The next step is to have the seriousness of the condition assessed by a qualified health practitioner or pest management company. After that, you should notify your landlord of the problem in writing and give them a reasonable time to remedy it. If you have to vacate the apartment during the pest control, the landlord is responsible for providing you with a temporary shelter.
If you have taken all these steps and no solution is forthcoming, you can terminate the lease following the procedures laid down in the tenancy agreement. You can also choose to contact an attorney to help you. Depending on the lease terms, you should write to the landlord and explain that you are moving out while stating the reasons as well. If the landlord doesn't challenge your decision, you may treat the lease as terminated. The implication is that you don't have to pay rent and you are not bound by the terms of the lease. You can also request for the refund of your security deposit.
Note that if the landlord can prove that they have taken all the reasonable and diligent steps to control the infestation, you are not entitled to end the lease even if the problem remains unsolved. If you abandon the lease, the tenant can sue you in court to recover damages.


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[•REC] is a 2007 Spanish horror film directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. The film was released in Spain on November 2007. [•REC] was filmed using shaky camerawork. A sequel, entitled [•REC]2 was released on October 2009, and a third installment entitled [•REC]3: Génesis is released on March 2012 making it a trilogy. Also, a comic book compilation was released in 2012 to accompany the release of [•REC]3: Génesis, titled [•REC]: Historias Inéditas. The book presents five different story arcs set in the [•REC] series, illustrated by five different artists. A fourth installment is in production and to be released in Spain on October 2014 entitled [•REC]4: Apocalipsis.
REC follows a television reporter, Ángela Vidal, and her cameraman, Pablo, who cover the night shift in one of Barcelona's local fire stations for the fictional documentary television series While You're Asleep. The firehouse receives a call about an old woman who is trapped in her apartment. When they arrive, Ángela and Pablo film the police breaking down the door. The woman becomes extraordinarily aggressive and bites one of the policemen. Meanwhile, the terrified residents gather in the entrance hall and look on as the police and military seal off the building. A firefighter who remained in the old woman's apartment is bitten and plummets through the stairwell to the lobby floor. The camera crew, remaining police officer and the second firefighter go up again and are attacked. The officer shoots the old woman. The camera crew remains trapped inside the building with the residents and continue recording in spite of police pressure. Ángela interviews a little girl named Jennifer who lives in the building. Jennifer is ill with what her mother claims is tonsillitis. She says her dog, Max, is at the veterinarian because he appeared to be sick as well.
A health inspector wearing a hazmat suit arrives and attempts to treat the injured, who become suddenly and fiercely violent despite their critical injuries. The health inspector explains that the time frame in which the disease takes effect varies by blood type. The health inspector also reveals that sometime during the previous day, a dog with the illness was taken to the veterinarian; the dog became violent and attacked and killed other pets at the clinic. The dog was euthanized, and was traced back to the apartment building. Jennifer, the girl who owned the dog, then suddenly attacks her mother. The inspector tells the distraught residents that this unknown but virulent disease is infecting people, causing them to turn into bloodthirsty savages. More and more people in the building become infected, and Ángela and Pablo are forced to fight them off. Eventually they learn that there is a key to a door in the apartment building workshop, which leads to an exit via the sewer system. However, the key is located on the third floor in the manager's apartment.
After finding the key, Ángela and Pablo appear to be the only human survivors, everyone else being dead or infected. Rather than making their way to the workshop, they are forced upstairs to the penthouse by the remaining infected. They then search the penthouse and discover that its former owner was an agent of the Vatican who was charged with researching and isolating a suspected virus believed to be the biological cause of demonic possession, which was later confirmed to exist in a young girl who was possessed. The agent kidnapped and brought the girl to the penthouse to conduct his research and to possibly cure her; during this time the virus managed to mutate and become contagious. The agent decided to seal her off, presumably to let her die of starvation and dehydration. A door to the attic opens and Pablo uses his camera to look inside. A boy jumps at the camera and breaks its light. Pablo turns on the night vision to see in the dark and discovers the sealed door referred to earlier by the agent on an audio tape. The agent abandoned his efforts to cure the girl after failing to engineer a vaccine and sealed her in the room before leaving the city. The girl, now a ghoulishly emaciated figure, begins searching the kitchen area, unaware of Ángela and Pablo's presence. Pablo tries to escape, but trips and is viciously attacked by the girl, causing Pablo to drop the camera. Ángela picks it up and runs, only to trip and drop the camera as well. She searches for it but is unable to find it. The camera continues to record as the screams of the infected girl are heard on the tape recorder and Ángela is dragged into the darkness, screaming.
REC was received acclaim from most critics. As of May 17, 2009, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 96% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 20 reviews. Reviewing the film for the BBC, Jamie Russell called it "A runaway rollercoaster of a fright flick", praising the "faux-docu handheld style", and the sense of claustrophobia and confusion, claiming "Rec" will definitely jangle the nerves", while criticising the lack of substance and "one-dimensional" supporting cast.
Bloody Disgusting gave the film four and a half stars out of five, with the reviewer saying, "[REC] has it all and is probably one of the best Spanish horror films in recent memory."
Accolades Edit
- Reaper Award 2009
Won: Best Indie/Foreign production[18]
- 2008 Goya Awards (22nd edition)
Won: Goya Best New Actress (Manuela Velasco), Goya Best Editing (David Gallart) Nomination: Goya Best Special Effects (David Ambid, Enric Masip and Álex Villagrasa)
- Fantasporto 2008
Won: Grand Prix Fantasporto, Audience Jury Award
- Fantastic'Arts 2008
Won: Special Jury Prize, Youth Jury Grand Prize, Audience Award Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival 2008 Won: Silver Scream Award
- Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 2008
Nominated: CEC Award Best Editing, CEC Award Best New Artist
- European Film Awards 2008
Nominated: Audience Award Best Film
- Fant-Asia Film Festival 2008
2nd place: Best European/North - South American Film Best Film, Fantasia Ground-Breaker Award Best Film
- Festival de Cine de Sitges 2007
Won: Best Director Award, Best Actress Award (Manuela Velasco), Audience Award El Periódico de Catalunya - Best Motion Picture, Jose Luis Guarner Critic Award, Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver - Special Mention
The sequel, [•REC]2, premiered in September 2009, at the Venice Film Festival, and was commercially released in Spain on October. The sequel deals with the events immediately following the end of the first film. In 2011 [•REC]3: Génesis was announced as a prequel but the prequel idea was scrapped but was released as a parallel side story to the main series. The third [•REC] movie was released in 2012 and [•REC]4: Apocalypsis is set to be released on October 31, 2014.
Remake Edit
Released in the US on October 2008, Quarantine is an American remake of the film, starring Jennifer Carpenter, that generally follows a similar storyline with several major differences which include changing the demonic possession into mutated rabies.
The Infected/Zombies Edit
The zombies in [•REC], [•REC]2, and [•REC]3: Génesis are not truly zombies. The "zombies" are really persons possessed by demons. The virus in the movie is highly contagious. It is transmitted by blood, saliva, and other bodily fluids. The infected are puppets of the main demon from the little girl named Tristana Medeiros. They are weak towards holy water, crucifix and other religious items.
Difference between Zombies and the Infected Edit
•Zombie -They are dead.
•Infected -They are alive, but infected with a pathogen.
•Zombie -Distinctive Signs: Stiffness, putrefaction.
•Infected -Distinctive Signs: bleeding, red/white eyes, contorted grimace, protruding jaws, convulsions, excessive force.
•Zombie -They move slow, because of stiffness, decomposition, and tissue breakdown.
•Infected -They move very fast.
•Zombie -They infect by scratch or bite. The victim dies and is resurrected as undead. There are cases of neurotoxins and viruses that causes zombification.
•Infected -They infect by bites; there are cases of infection from scratches and transmission of body fluids.
•Zombie -Duration of Process: from 2 to 5 days.
•Infected -Among seconds and a few hours.
•Zombie -Motivation: eat humans.
•Infected -Motivation: extend the infection.
•Zombie -How to kill them: They are immune to gunfire. It is necessary to destroy its brain. In some cases, just simply severe the head.
•Infected -How to kill them: Wounding them very hard, although there are infected that are resistant to lethal attacks.
Infected Characteristics Edit
If an infected bites someone, the time of the reaction depends on the blood type of the victim (though, not further explained which blood type is the fast or slow one to react), but the victim falls to a coma (for hours), seizures, and excessive salivation or frothy saliva, much like a rabies virus, and the virus also behaves like a flu.
In children, the approximate time of reaction is longer than any adult infected, refer to little Jennifer in the first fim, and her symptoms are just tonsilitis as what her mother stated.
The infected's eyes are usually blood red or blank white. And they move very fast. They can only be killed by shooting or destroying the head where the brain is located. And they can be stopped or freezed by reciting prayers or performing an exorcism.
Humans are not just the ones that can be infected but also animals, too. In the first film, Jennifer's dog said was infected by the same virus and caused havoc in a veterinary clinic, and another case is from the Historias Inéditas, the third comic entitled "Zoombiii¡" where an infected man (theorized as the fireman from the apartment building) made its way to the Zoo of Barcelona where he infected all the animals including the albino gorilla named Snowflake.
Comic Edit
A comic book compilation was released in 2012 to accompany the release of REC 3, titled REC: Historias Ineditas. The book presents five different story arcs set in the REC series, illustrated by five different artists.
1. The first, ENCERRADOS (Trapped) explains the fates of the trapped kids from the second film.
2. The second TRISTANA, provides the backstory for Tristana Medeiros, who becomes the possessed after being raped.
3. The Third, ZOOMBII, deals with an infected man making his way to a Zoo, where he infects the animals.
4. The fourth titled EL EXPERIMENTO (The Experiment), follows the priest, Padre Albelda, (the dead priest from the second film and the man heard on the voice recording at the end of the first installment) attempting to end the Medeiros Girl's life in the apartment.
5. The Final Arc follows the Infected Uncle from the third film and reveals what happened to Max (the infected dog from the first film).
External linksEdit
- Official site
- REC on imdb.com


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Lahiri shares lead midway through second round
Crans Montana (Switzerland): India`s Anirban Lahiri kept a share of the lead midway through the second round of the Omega European Masters at the picturesque Crans-sur-Sierre, here on Friday.
Lahiri, who shot eight-under 63 in the first round, was one-under through nine holes with three birdies and two bogeys.
Danny Willett (69-67), Victor Dubuisson (68-65) and Stephen Gallacher (five-under through 12 in second round) were at nine-under alongside Lahiri.
Shiv Kapur ensured he would play the weekend rounds with cards of 70 and 69, while Gaganjeet Bhullar, who shot 68 in first round, was one-over through 13 holes in second, and was two-under for the tournament, where the cut looks likely at even par.
Jeev Milkha Singh was three-over through 12 holes after the first round of 68. At even par for the tournament with six holes to go, he is on the bubble and cannot afford any more mistakes.
SSP Chowrasia (73-71) looks likely to miss the cut at two-over and going out with him would be C Muniyappa (71-74) at three-over. Himmat Rai and Digvijay, who are yet to complete their second round are at four-over and five-over respectively and will certainly miss the cut.


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By Douglas Robson, special for USA TODAY
WIMBLEDON, England Of the impressive streaks owned by Roger Federer — 237 consecutive weeks at No. 1, 65 consecutive wins on grass — the one still alive could be the strongest testament to his enduring excellence.
On Wednesday, Federer extended to 21 his unmatched mark of major semifinal appearances when he neutralized 6-10 ace king Ivo Karlovic 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
"Means the world to me," said the second-ranked Swiss of the streak that started at Wimbledon in 2004 after he lost to Gustavo Kuerten in the third round of the French Open. "It's hard to believe I achieved it, because … it's not just (that) I'm looking back on a few weeks or a month or a year or so, it's really way back now."
That streak is safe for now as Federer guns for a sixth Wimbledon and another record — the mark of 14 majors he shares with American Pete Sampras.
MEN'S SEMIS SET: Roddick, Haas and Murray join Federer
MURRAY DIARY: One step closer to Wimbledon crown
WILLIAMS SISTERS: Ready to set up another title showdown
PHOTO GALLERY: The top images from the All England Club
Standing in the way is 31-year-old Tommy Haas of Germany, who knocked off No. 4 Novak Djokovic 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3 to reach his first semifinal in London.
"It would be writing in the history books of tennis," Federer says of surpassing Sampras.
When it comes to consistent Grand Slam excellence, Federer continues to write his own personal chapter.
The 27-year-old has obliterated the previous streak of semifinal appearances in majors once held by Ivan Lendl of Czechoslovakia and Rod Laver of Australia. They reached 10 in a row.
Federer's peers marvel at the resolve he has shown over so many years, surfaces, conditions and time zones without being tripped up before the last four.
"I mean, it's almost impossible," says Andy Roddick following his five-set win against Lleyton Hewitt on Wednesday. "That's one of the most impressive stats that we'll see in tennis."
"The consistency, right there, in the big tournaments, is ridiculous," adds No. 3 Andy Murray of Scotland, who beat Juan Carlos Ferrero and takes on No. 6 Roddick in Friday's other semifinal. "No one will ever match that, I don't think."
While the current record speaks to his unswerving brilliance, just as impressive is the smooth swinging Swiss' durability. He has appeared in 39 consecutive majors — fifth longest in the post-1968 Open era — and last year played through the lingering effects of mononucleosis for several months.
"He's very smart with his schedule and works hard with his body," American Mardy Fish says.
And lucky.
Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more.


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A travel-ready, full-featured BC**
Traveling divers who like jacket-style BCs are going to love SCUBAPRO's GO. Although lightweight, this is a full-featured BC with a super-secure integrated weight system, huge cargo pockets with mesh reinforcements and zippered closures, lightweight shoulder strap buckles and large aluminum D-rings. The BC offers plenty of buoyant lift, especially for one designed for travel. Its soft backpack can be folded for easy packing, while double tank bands contribute to in-water stability once you get to your dive destination. It's available in five sizes and comes in its own travel bag. Bottom line: The SCUBAPRO GO is an excellent warm-water BC that can also be used for temperate water diving, a big plus for divers who like to use just one BC both at home and on vacation.
For more information:
Find this product at your local SCUBAPRO dealer


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Freepia is small GNU/Linux distribution designed to run on VIA EPIA-M mainboards. It currently only runs on the M-9000 and M-10000 (ezra and nehemia cpu) but with some modifications like kernel and X11 modules it should run on others too. The main goal of this project is to build a full-featured, low-noise media box to play movies, MP3s, images, etc. It uses freevo as its media viewer, but in the future there may be support for others, like mythtv or vdr.
Hasciicam makes it possible to have live ASCII video on the Web. It captures video from a TV card and renders it into ASCII, formatting the output into an HTML page with a refresh tag or in a live ASCII window or in a simple text file as well, giving anyone that has a bttv card, a Linux box, and a cheap modem line the ability to show a live asciivideo feed that can be browsable without any need for a plugin, Java, etc.
Infojection provides a multimedia playback system. It is ideally suited to digital signage, plasma screen advertising, and public information screens. Players connected to projectors or big screens are able to display a variable schedule of Live TV or video, digital video like DivX, MPEG, Flash, MS PowerPoint, or HTML. Other possibilities can be realized through plugins. A Java/Tomcat Web app provides the Media Manager. Media is imported, scheduled, and then distributed to a potentially massive number of players and screens.
kdetv is a KDE application to watch TV on the desktop. Features include deinterlacing (DScaler algorithms), three view modes, a channel scanner, the ability to import the channel files of three other TV programs, teletext and closed caption decoding, and an easy-to-use graphical user interface. The application supports remote controls using KDELIRC, a component shipped in KDE 3.2. kdetv requires KDE libraries version 3.2 or above, a TV tuner card with video4linux or XVideo-input support, and an ALSA or OSS compatible mixer device.
An enterprise-class distributed monitoring solution.
A robust keepalive framework for Linux Virtual Server and router HA.


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Bluehost has an exclusive deal for One Page Love readers at only $2.95 per month!
Main challenge was to create dynamic site without overwhelming it.
original One Page website
was reviewed by Rob Hope
I started One Page Love back in 2008. It's come a long way but I want to keeping adding value to your experience. Please tweet or email me with any questions or suggestions.


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Every ribbon counts! Each ribbon submitted moves us closer to our goal of donating $10,000 to The Beautiful Day Foundation. Each ribbon code translates to $0.20 for BDF.
Every Bliss gamer can earn and submit five ribbons per game download. It's a wonderful and fun opportunity to work together, one ribbon at a time, toward a common goal: preventing and curing breast cancer.
The Beautiful Day Foundation is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness and providing breast cancer education to young women across the globe.
They bring professionals who know and people who care together to provide the information and support that young women need to fight this disease with courage and strength.
They're a fresh voice helping women and their families face every challenge with grace, humor, and style. And we're building an energetic community dedicated to helping young women and their loved ones turn today- each day - every day into a beautiful day.


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Note: We want to improve our website's performance and usability so that you could really get a great benefit from our website. Just more one thing is that We publish all content only for testing purpose not for commercial use, so if you have money then we strongly recommend you to buy the require plugin/theme etc from original developer's website. Use any theme OR plugin on your own risk!
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- Online Suppport – http://themovation.ticksy.com
- Online Documentation – http://docs.themovation.com/stratus
- Child Theme included
- Demo content included! (xml file)


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ODAC Announces 2016-17 All-Academic Team The Old Dominion Athletic Conference released its 2016-17 All-Academic Team on Thursday and Washington and Lee once again led the league in number of athletes honored. Full Story
W&L Claims the 2017 ODAC Overall Sports Champion Commissioner's Cup The Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) announced on Thursday that Washington and Lee has swept the league's Commissioner's Cups for the fourth time in the last... Full Story
Lee and Concklin Headline Athletic Department Award Winners at W&L The Washington and Lee Department of Athletics held its annual Athletics Awards Ceremony at Lee Chapel on Tuesday evening. The event, made possible by the generosity of the... Full Story
24 Holds "Be the Match" Registration Drive On Saturday, February 4, the Washington and Lee University student organization 24 held a "Be The Match" bone marrow registration drive in the Warner Center and had... Full Story
W&L Athletics Celebrates National Girls & Women in Sports Day Washington and Lee University joins organizations nation-wide in celebrating the 31st annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day, which begins today and has a theme of... Full Story
Numerous W&L Students Earn Fall Scholar-Athlete Awards Washington and Lee Director of Athletics Jan Hathorn has announced that a record 242 students earned Scholar-Athlete awards during the recently completed fall term. The students... Full Story
W&L Women's Soccer Ranked 20th in NSCAA Top 25 The National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) released its final postseason rankings on Monday and the Washington and Lee women's soccer team was picked 20th in... Full Story
W&L's Engeland, Jessee Earn Women's Soccer VaSID All-State Honors The Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) announced its 2016 College Division Women's Soccer All-State Teams on Wednesday and Washington and Lee had two players... Full Story
Three Generals Named to NSCAA Women's Soccer All-Region Team The National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) announced its 2016 Division III All-South Atlantic Region selections on Friday and the Washington and Lee women's... Full Story
General News
General News


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My boyfriend is upset, can you overcome jealousy issues?
View Single Post
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: London
Posts: 97
Originally Posted by
Sounds like a grueling but worthwhile weekend. Huge respect for facing this and being so caring and honest with your bf.
Couple of observations from inside the male jealous brain.
- This will be very hard for him to deal with. Dealing with issues like this is not something we get any instruction in unless one has particularly self-aware parents. It's like giving a complex maths problem to somebody who never studied maths at school. Some people will eventually work it out by themselves. Many will not or it will happen too late. Help him find a way to work it out.
- might be a good to start with this and work throught it with him -
- therapy
- meditation
- maybe none of the above works for your bf but try and find a way.
If he doesn't work through it the danger is he will find a way to deal with it that still causes him plenty of pain but not enough to leave you.
Think of it like a stone in your shoe. If it's too sore you just can't ignore it anymore and you have to stop. But it can be not that sore and still cause you enough pain to be forced to limp along.
Help him find a way to take the stone out of his shoe and it will be one of the most wonderful things you can do for him.
But ultimately you can only do so much - he's got to want to.
I think it will be hard, but he has admitted to me that his jealousy is there, I dont yet know how deep rooted that jealousy is, but we are going to do everything we can to work on it.
What we do know is how much we love each other, and he is at least secure in the knowledge that if things become to difficult for him to cope with he can tell me, and I will end things with my lover. He knows that he comes first, which is good. This isn't fair on my lover, but what can I do? I cannot see a future without my boyfriend.
I'm going to make sure that from now on we have regular talks about it. The first one was very difficult and I'm so glad that we got someone to take Max out. We have spoken a few times since, he wants to talk about it, and now I do as well. It will get easier, I want him to know that we can discuss anything at anytime, and also to be honest with our feelings.
Thanks for the link.
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Raised in County Carlow, Deputy Head of Mission David Murphy, may have given as little thought to the Korean peninsula as the rest of us young Irish when growing up. A graduate in Economics and English Literature, he got to see the Lehman Brothers collapse up close and personal as an employee there when the crisis hit, and although he was spared in the rush of job losses that … [Read more...]
Couple Clothing: The Relationship Glue?
If there's one thing that South Korea does better than anywhere else, it's marketing love. Holidays dedicated to couples dominate the calendar — e.g., White Day (March), Rose Day (May), Kiss Day (June), and Hug Day (December) — while those who are unattached are left forced to explain their lack of a significant other. It seems that each month comes with a cutesy stamp of … [Read more...]
The Big Mission For The Little Travellers in Korea
Nine years ago, Craig Kulyk carried a few beaded dolls, each smaller than his palm, from his native Winnipeg, Canada to his second home in Seoul. It was that simple for a small non-profit South African charity to spread its message - and its mission - around the Korean peninsula. Nearly a decade on, the sole Asian-based chapter of the NGO has raised more than KRW 65 million for … [Read more...]
Seoul St. Mary's Hospital Needs You
One morning in 2010, Deuk Nam Chung, the director of international collaboration and affairs at Seoul St. Mary's Hospital in Seoul, picked up the newspaper to flip through its pages when an article caught her eye. The piece sang the praises of five foreign public directors of Global Village Centers in Seoul. Chung saw an opportunity to build a stronger community with all of the … [Read more...]
Paradise on Earth lies on the back of the horse…
… and Sarah Shechner helps North Korean refugee children find it at Grace Stables. A beautiful road leads up the hill, offering a calm view over snow-capped treetops and lazy smoke from the chimneys of the houses below. Ahead is the new home of Grace Stables, which has been built by a private entrepreneur and politician. Complying with all new state-of-the-art architecture, … [Read more...]


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Showing reviews 1-10 of 19 | Next
Posted by R Corley on 20th Sep 2016
Excellent company, fast shipping and accurate product description. Decent pricing also.
Posted by Unknown on 28th Apr 2016
Excellent customer service!! The lemonlime tootsie pops are a refreshing change from the ordinary.
Will order from this company again!
Posted by Unknown on 21st Jan 2016
very nice present for my mom.
staff were excellent
Posted by Mary on 2nd Aug 2015
Tootsie pops arrived promptly and in excellent condition. Thank you CandyMafia.
Posted by jackie on 26th Mar 2015
Just got these. They're great. Really fresh and all in tact. They weren't broken. It's so nice to be able to just get the flavors you want.
Posted by jackie on 23rd Mar 2015
Just got my order of these lemon lime tootsies. My last order I got these as a sample. They're great. This is the onlyccompany that I know of that lets you try their products. I think it's fantastic. Then to be able to buy just that flavor is the greatest thing. I love candy mafia. Also if you need customer service there's is the best I've encountered. Love this company. Ill be back again soon.
Posted by Unknown on 12th Aug 2014
These are the best. I am totally addicted.
Posted by Mary on 17th Jul 2014
I love that I can buy just the flavors of Tootsie Pops that I like. Fast delivery. Thanks
Posted by imnokid on 20th May 2014
How can you go wrong witha company that takes your favorite flavors and sells them to you seperately? Fast delivery, too. The BEST!
Posted by Unknown on 15th Dec 2013
Excellent product and excellent service. Thank you CandyMafia.
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