NEWS RELEASE
August 30, 2010

Royal Scarlet Chapter Palliative Care Donations Reach $10,000

Brockville—The Royal Scarlet Chapter of Edwardsburg made a $1600 donation to the Brockville and District Hospice Palliative Care Service August 27th—bringing their seven-year donation total to $10,000.

“We started directing our charitable donations to local palliative care when it began to affect our members personally,” says Chapter Chair of Fundraising Clarence Barkley. Barkley’s sister-in-law battled terminal cancer and relied on the B&D Hospice Palliative Care Service in her final months. “In 2003, we invited members of the Palliative Care Team to make a presentation during one of our fundraising dinners seven years ago, and it was a real heart and eye opener. The service receives no funding and we wanted to help.”

The B&D Hospice Palliative Care Service offers support at any point from diagnosis to bereavement—and beyond, for family members coping with loss. The focus is determined by the individual and family, from symptom management to advocacy to emotional support and counseling. A caseload can run from hours to years. Based at Brockville General Hospital, the team works with patients at home, at long-term care facilities, and at both Charles and Garden Streets sites of BGH. On average, they support 70 individuals in the community, in addition to inpatient care in the six-bed unit at Garden Street Site for direct symptom management or final days care. Patients requiring care in the Charles Street Site can also be assisted by the service. Trained volunteers play an important role supporting patients at home or in hospital. The program receives no government funding and operates entirely through local fundraising. Launched in 1979 at the former St. Vincent de Paul’s Hospital, the service has grown through the years from a single nurse to six consult nurses and over 100 trained volunteers.

The Royal Scarlet Chapter is a Chapter Degree of the Loyal Orange Association. Its members run the annual fundraising dinner under the Chapter banner so the funds raised stay local—for the last seven years, to support this community’s need for palliative care service. The fundraising dinner is a ham and beans dinner at St. Andrew’s Knox Presbyterian Church in Spencerville open to members and the public every Victoria Day weekend.

“Palliative care touches everyone,” says Barkley, who once again has family members needing the service. “I just lost my cousin and it really makes you think. The palliative care service workers are excellent and very supportive.”

Of the Scarlet Chapter, Barkley thinks the group has been doing a great job with the fundraising.

“It’s something to hit that $10,000 mark in donations,” he says. “We’re proud of that, and proud to be able to serve.”

 

Happy to serve:  Chair of Fundraising for the Royal Scarlet Chapter of Edwardsburg Clarence Barkley (front, centre) presents a cheque for $1600 to Joan Schwarze (front, left), Coordinator of the B&DHPCS; and Sherry Anderson (front, right), Director of Complex Continuing Care, Palliative Care and Rehabilitation for BGH. Accompanying Barkley are Chapter members (middle row, l – r) Arthur Duncan, Carl Gilmer, Reg Connors, (back row, l – r) Dave Dudley, Ronald Shannon, Stuart Irving, Dalton Gilmer, and Dale Barkley.


For more information, please contact:

Maggie Wheeler Communications Officer BROCKVILLE GENERAL HOSPITAL 613-345-5649 Ext. 1-1504

Healthy people – Outstanding Care

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