Support Spiritual Care With the BTHC Foundation

Written by Candace Derksen/Jayme Giesbrecht

This last month of the effort highlights the Spiritual Care program at Boundary Trails Health Centre. Courtesy BTHC Foundation website

The Boundary Trails Health Centre Foundation is in to the final leg of its Donation Conversation.

The three month campaign is working to raise funds that normally would have come in during a number of regular fundraising events throughout the year, however many of those fundraisers had to be cancelled this year because of COVID-19.

This last month of the effort highlights the Spiritual Care program at Boundary Trails Health Centre located between Winkler and Morden. From services in the Chapel, to room visits for long-term patients, to active listening and prayer, the Spiritual Care Co-ordinator takes on a big role. And without the funds raised through the BTHC Foundation, it would not be possible to continue.

Pastor Randy Smart is Chair of the Spiritual Care Advisory Committee and he says the Province does not contribute to the program and as a result, it relies solely on donor support.

He explains the role of a spiritual care coordinator is to be a presence in the building and be available to individual patients throughout the hospital, including palliative care.

“And just the ongoing drama, if you like, of the realities of people when they are ill. They start thinking about ‘who am I?’ ‘what is happening to me?’ and they need perspective mentally and emotionally about things that are beyond our control,” said Smart. “The patients are dealing with those things, their families are dealing with those things and sometimes the staff who care for them find the load heavy as well, and so to have a pastoral presence in the building, someone who is known and trusted by staff and available to the patients, is very important.”

Recently, the committee hired Winkler pastor, Larry Reimer, to fill that role of spiritual care coordinator. His first day on the job will be January 4, 2021. Larry Reimer.

Not only is it his hope to be a regular support to patients, but also to the staff who he says are encountering an incredible and unexpectedly stressful time during COVID-19.

“Now we’re in it. How do we deal with it? How do we navigate forward?”, said Reimer who speaks from personal experience. He explained that his father has been in the hospital several times during this period and Reimer says he’s had to witness his mother go through the trying time of not being able to be at her husband’s side. “Seeing it firsthand really gives you a greater empathy for walking with other people,” he added.

Now that Reimer has been hired on to fill that coordinator role, Smart says the Board is examining how to better coordinate information between the institution and others in the caring community around it. For example, he says what happens in the case of someone coming in with mental health issues?

“How does the hospital deal with it? What are the things that we as part of the community around them can do to provide care?”

Local donors committed $35,000 in matching grants for the campaign this fall, helping to kickstart donations.

So far, $394,450 of the $420,000 goal has been raised.

“We all benefit from the generosity of the people in our community and we don’t always know when we are going to be one of those people in the hospital who needs that person coming alongside to encourage and strengthen us, or to meet and care for one of our family members or friends, and it’s nice to be investing now in a service that could one day be to our own benefit as well,” added Smart.

Click here to learn more.

Fall 50/50 Raffle

Celebrate 20 Years with the BTHC Foundation and End 2020 with 5 chances to WIN!

Thanks to the Winkler Coop@Home store we have some AMAZING Early Bird Prizes to give away. Final draw for half the Cash Pot is on December 31, 2020. For more info on the prizes and draws and to get your tickets…

Go to www.bthcfraffle.ca

Thank you for your continued support to help enhance healthcare services at Boundary Trails Health Centre.

Local Hospital Raising Money For Essential Equipment That Didn’t Make “The List”

Local well-known doctor Don Klassen says he can’t imagine his work without the support of the Boundary Trails Health Centre Foundation. Dr. Don Klassen

He notes there are always more requests for funding from the Province than there is the ability to pay for those requests.

“This is often where the foundation comes in,” he says. “In particular in funding those items and equipment that go over and above.” 

Equipment like bariatric beds and lifts, ultrasound machines, furniture and other comfort items for palliative care wouldn’t exist without the support of donors and the work of the BTHC Foundation.

He says it’s often the comfort-related items that make the biggest difference to people who spend the most time in the hospital like dialysis patients with more comfortable chairs.

“It’s really important that our communities donate and invest in our hospital,” BTHC Foundation Executive Director Shannon Samatte-Folkett explains, adding the foundation funds the entire Palliative Care Program, two part-time nurses and a palliative care volunteer coordinator, as well as the spiritual care coordinator.

“Right now that is so important because of the visitation restrictions,” she explains “People from their own clergy can’t come to visit, so our spiritual care coordinator steps in to be that person to connect them or just be there for them.”

Klassen explains this month is part of a three-month ‘Donation Conversation’ campaign.

“We’re doing this in the throes of a pandemic,” Klassen says, adding they hope the campaign can match the kind of donation they’ve received in years past.

The foundation’s annual golf tournament raises around $30,000, while their fall banquet has raised up to $90,000. This year both events had to be cancelled due to COVID-19.

However, kick starting fundraising efforts this year, local donors have committed $35,000 in matching grants for the campaign this fall.

“If those of us in the public can come up with $35,000 we’ve already got $70,000 spoken for and we can just go up from there,” Klassen says.

October’s theme during the ‘Donation Conversation’ is Equipment. November features Spiritual Care, and December the Palliative Care Program.

You can join the Donation Conversation by clicking here, and making a gift today.

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Record Broken At BTHC Foundation Gala

It was a complete sell out for the 2019 BTHC Foundation Banquet at the Access Event Centre Friday night.

A new record was set during Friday’s Boundary Trails Health Centre Foundation’s annual gala.

The evening’s goal was to raise $90,000 for a point of care ultrasound for the B-T-H-C emergency room which will improve the ER staff’s ability to diagnose and treat critical medical conditions. “I understand it’s a portable unit that they’ll be able to move around within the hospital, so it will be a very nice addition for the entire Boundary Trails,” said Foundation Chair Grant Thiessen.

Thiessen says although $90,000 is a big goal, the generous crowd delivered, raising approximately $87,000, a new record for the banquet.

“That is absolutely fantastic and we’re just so pleased how the communality supports our event. We sometimes talk about making some changes, and I say you know what, we sell this out. This is pretty good.”

Knowing how successful the event is year after year, Thiessen says they don’t ever want to take it for granted. However, they know the need for healthcare is something that will come into all our lives at one time or another, and that’s why people continue to support the cause so generously.

In addition to some other programs and equipment purchases, the foundation also funds the hospital’s spiritual care and palliative care programs at B-T-H-C as well.

Meanwhile, Thiessen says when the time comes, the foundation’s fundraising for the hospital expansion will go into full steam.

“Our target is still as it’s been. We knew we needed to get through the fall election,” said Thiessen. “It’s really in the hands of government right now to get an announcement. But the issue is when we get the announcement, not if, we will be put into high gear quickly for a major, major fundraising activity.”

michael landsberg oct2019Michael Landsberg was the keynote speaker Friday night.