Hospice kicks off fundraising campaign

By John Barlow
Editor

Wendy Gilmore, chair of the Foothills Country Hospice Society’s building committee gives a tour of one of the family rooms in the new hospice near Okotoks. The society is now trying to raise $1.1 million in operating funds for the facility. photo by John Barlow

For the price of that daily caffeine fix, foothills residents can ensure the Foothills Country Hospice has sufficient operating funds.
Last Friday the Foothills Country Hospice Society launched an ambitious fundraising campaign to raise $1.1 million in operating funds.
“These donations will provide the necessary operating funds for the hospice to provide care for its residents in its initial year of operation,” said Jean Quigley, chair of the society’s fundraising committee.
The fundraising campaign, entitled “A Day’s Care” will focus on soliciting 3,000 donations of $365 each, or $1 per day.
Quigley explained the $365 is based on the cost of hospice care which is estimated at $365 per patient per day.
In comparison, the cost of an accurate care bed in a hospital environment is approximately $1,200 per patient per day. As a result, Quigley said the hospice provides a savings of $835 per day per person to the health care system.
“A Day’s Care campaign is a compassionate way that Albertans can provide funds to assist a terminally ill person with their care,” said Quigley prior to a tour of the facility on Friday. “We know that there are many Albertans who want to contribute to this initiative. This campaign will give them the opportunity to get involved.”
To date, more than $3.5 million has been raised to build the state-of-the-art 12,000 square foot hospice which is located just north of Okotoks. In raising those funds there were some significant donations.
However, Quigley said the new campaign is an opportunity to get more people involved.
“This is something that is achievable for a lot of families where a lot of the big contributions are not.”
The campaign is not just aimed at families, but sports teams, service clubs and individuals are also invited to take part.
The hospice, which includes eight self-contained patient rooms, two family rooms, a spiritual space, commercial kitchen and meeting rooms, is expected to be completed later this fall.
The facility is built on eight acres of land donated by Dr. Jim Hansen and his wife Debbie. Debbie was on hand for Friday’s tour and was overwhelmed with the facility and the work done by the more than 100 volunteers who helped bring the hospice to reality.
“It is absolutely fantastic,” said Debbie. “I am so excited and so pleased to see the facility. It is wonderful to see how the community supported this project.”
She also encouraged residents to get involved with the “A Day’s Care” campaign.
“Anything we can do will make a difference,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be big — everything helps.”
While the society focuses on raising operating capital, hospice executive director Anna Flasch said her next priority will be hiring staff for the facility.
She said the first step will be to hire a director of care who will outline the staffing needs for the hospice.
The Foothills Country Hospice is unique in that it is Alberta’s first freestanding rural hospice. Therefore, there are now templates in place to help guide in terms of staffing.
Despite the labour crunch in Alberta, Flasch said she is not concerned they will have issues hiring staff.
“A lot of people have already showed interest,” she said. “This is an opportunity to work in a new facility.”
The society has funding in place to complete construction, but are not only looking for operating funds, but funds for equipment and furnishings as well. For example, each patient bed costs more than $6,000 and the tub more than $25,000.
For more information on the “A Day’s Care” campaign call 995-HOPE (4673) or visit the society’s website at www.countryhospice.org
Gifts are tax deductible and receipts are provided by the Foothills Country Hospice Society.

Budget key to growing regions

By John Barlow
Editor

For local municipalities there is more of a fear of losing what they have rather than wanting more when the provincial budget is announced on Thursday.
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach is scheduled to unveil his first budget tomorrow and local politicians are hopeful infrastructure funding remains a top priority.
Okotoks Mayor Bill McAlpine said he is not expecting any new money in the budget, but he stressed the need to ensure grant levels are maintained.
“We have a wish list,” said McAlpine. “For us it is just a matter of hoping there are not any cutbacks in some areas. We have ongoing needs in streets and roads and it is more imperative with the increased population.”
McAlpine said if there is new money in the provincial budget he thinks special consideration should be given to growing communities such as Okotoks. In the federal census released last month Okotoks showed 47 per cent growth over the past five years making it the fastest growing community in Alberta.
“I know they have to recognize the need for funding for fast growing communities like Okotoks, Cochrane and Spruce Grove,” said McAlpine.
Foothills MD Reeve Roy McLean shared the views of McAlpine, saying the rural municipality is also feeling growing pains.
“In terms of infrastructure we just need to keep up with what we are doing,” said McLean.
Agriculture Minister and Highwood MLA George Groeneveld said he could not let anything out of the bag prior to the budget announcement, but he did state he would be surprised if there were cuts in infrastructure funding.
However, Groeneveld did say there could be some shuffling of funds in social services in order to achieve better balance in spending.
“I shudder at the social services budgets the past few years,” he explained of health, education, child and senior services. “I understand we have to look after people, but sometimes it is done at the expense of other areas. It is important to this regime to get our house in order and it is going to take some soul searching to get that done.”

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