By Kevin Woodhouse
www.thesuburban.com
“It doesn’t matter where you live, if we have an empty bed, we will help you,” Teresa Dellar said, describing the West Island Palliative Care Residence’s philosophy about helping families and patients deal with end of life issues with dignity.
At just before 8 a.m., the ninth annual WIPCR Charity Breakfast was in full swing at Le Chambertin, and before the fundraising event was over a few hours later, West Island residents had contributed $9,500 to the cause, a total of $60,000 collected over the years at the breakfast.
Dellar, the residence’s executive director, was posing for photographs, catching up with acquaintances and spoke about the challenges of fundraising the three million required every year to maintain the level of service for the 23 beds.
“We thank all those who turned out in such great numbers and made generous donations,” said Dellar. “It is very gratifying to see this strong support for our commitment to provide high quality palliative care for the West Island community.”
Despite the residence’s success, Dellar told The Suburban that “you can never make the assumption that everyone knows about you and the fundraising needs because for many people, they only come to know about us when they need us.”
But because “this was a community project that was then built by the community, we are the largest centre in Canada that can help people deal with end of life issues with dignity, surrounded by family,” Dellar said.
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