Plum Coulee resident receives 2022 Sharon Carstairs Caring Community Award

Written by Pam Fedack & Terry Klippenstein Saturday, Oct 01 2022, 5:00 AM

The Sharon Carstairs Caring Community Award is the first of its kind to recognize community-based efforts in palliative and end-of-life care with a $1,500 gift.

This year’s recipient is Plum Coulee resident, Amanda Nickel, founder of the Raelyn Nickel Memorial Book program, a project inspired by her infant daughter.

“She was my first daughter. She was born here at Boundary Trails (Health Centre). After birth, we found out that something’s not quite right. So she got sent to the NICU (Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit) in Winnipeg, and then we found out, things are a little bit more serious and she is terminal. Once we found that out, the process began to start planning the palliative care journey. That’s when we transitioned back home. So we were blessed with three months, just shy of three months.”

After receiving similar books from Winnipeg during their time in palliative care, Nickel recognized the need for this type of support in this region. She sought help from Shannon Samatte-Folkett, Executive Director of the Boundary Trails Health Centre Foundation (BTHCF).

“I take no credit for this award or program as a whole,” said Samatte-Folkett. “I met Amanda at a darker time in her life. She came to my office to discuss donations made in memory of her late daughter, and how best those dollars could be used. We bonded over a shared experience of losing a child. We wept together, and have since developed a partnership as well as a friendship. She thoughtfully researched books that she felt would be great tools for families, especially young children, experiencing loss and grief. The goal is to add more options for different age groups. And with winning this award, it will help. I believe she deserves all the recognition, I’m just happy to be able to help in some small way.”

Nickel says the program is intended to provide families with books to help them talk about death, dying, and in particular, their loved one. 

“So much of what we do in palliative care concentrates on the patient, and that’s right and proper,” said Carstairs prior to announcing this year’s recipient. “But the family is left, following the death of this loved one, with a terrible bereavement, a terrible lack of understanding of why it’s happened to them. Nowhere is this particularly so grievous as with a child. And that’s why I think this book award, the Raelyn Memorial Book Program, is so special. It recognizes that a mother understood that she wasn’t the only one going through this, that there were many families experiencing similar grief. She reached out and said, “what can I do to make this better?”

Nickel describes the program as a small project with a huge impact on grieving families. 

“The program is providing literature,” said Carstairs. “But I suspect it goes beyond the literature. I suspect the books are just a small part of what’s going on here. Because in the exchange of books, you exchange friendship. That is what is so critical.”

The $1,500 award will fund the purchase of another 38 book packages to be given to families with members in palliative care at BTHC.

Southern Health-Santé Sud’s ’50/50 payroll’ initiative a winning campaign for staff and foundations

Written by Pam Fedack Sunday, Jul 10 2022, 5:30 AM

When Southern Health-Santé Sud (SH-SS) launched a new fundraising initiative just under 18 months ago, it didn’t take long to see it was a huge success. Noticing how the concept had worked well elsewhere, Shannon Samatte-Folkett, Executive Director of the Boundary Trails Health Centre Foundation pitched the idea for a ‘payroll 50/50.’

“I connected with Kyle McNair, who at the time was the Director of Health for Boundary Trails Health Centre (BTHC). He was very supportive and on board from the beginning. Kyle was a huge help with sharing this project with Southern Health-Santé Sud, and my go-between for explaining how it would work, and what support we would need from their payroll department. SH-SS gave approval for the three regional hospital foundations to work together. Southern Health is a very large, vast region and allowing staff to choose one of the three foundations nearest to them helps engage them in the projects the foundations are working on to support their health centres.”

All three regional hospitals have large projects on the horizon with their respective foundations contributing financially. Portage is getting a brand-new facility, BTHC is expanding, and Bethesda in Steinbach is building a new renal care unit.

The “Winning Wednesdays Staff Payroll 50/50” campaign is open to all SH-SS employees, as well as employees at long-term care facilities in the region that have SH-SS administer the payroll. (Tabor Home, Douglas Campbell Lodge, Boyne Lodge, etc.)

When employees enroll, they are choosing a combo of tickets they would like to purchase, and the cost is deducted from their pay every pay period. Draws are held every two weeks.

The first draw in the Staff Payroll 50/50 was held on February 10, 2021. At that time 234 employees were enrolled, and the first jackpot paid out $1474.50. The 35th draw held on June 1st included the enrolment of 885 employees and a jackpot of $5,567.

The July 13th jackpot will be $5775.

Samatte-Folkett says with over 5,000 employees spread out across SH-SS, the potential for growth is there.

“When Shannon brought forward the idea of a payroll lottery in early 2020, I thought it was a great idea, a real win-win opportunity for the Foundation and the staff,” said Kyle MacNair, former Director of Services at BTHC and the current Acute Care Director for Southern Health-Santé Sud. “As the scale grew to include all three Regional Centers it got even better. By the time everything was set up in early 2021, it turned into something that we really needed. We were almost a year into the pandemic and it was taking a heavy toll on staff morale, we needed some good news, something positive to talk about and the payroll 50/50 provided that.”

MacNair extended a big thank you to the Foundation for their commitment to getting this project off the ground and the staff across the region for supporting the initiative.

2021 BTHC Foundation 50/50 Raffle Update

Final jackpot amount was $58,380 with winners taking half the other half towards support for BTHC.

We have TWO winners!

The draw was made in the office on Friday, December 31st at 4:00PM. Winning ticket number 0518970, Caitlin Wiebe was drawn. As I was calling Caitlin she knocked on the office door, she learned via our LIVE Instagram that she was the lucky winner. With true integrity, she immediately shared that her and her co-worker Shannon Klassen went in together to purchase tickets. Caitlin and Shannon are ER Nurses here at Boundary Trails Health Centre. Chairperson Ben Friesen and I were honoured to present the ladies with their winnings. CONGRATULATIONS ladies! Wishing you a Happy New Year!

From the bottom of our hearts here at the BTHC Foundation, THANK YOU for participating in our winter 50/50 and making it an exciting and rewarding year end. Happy New Year and blessings to you all in 2022.

Friday November 19: Apple AirPods Pro (value $329) – WINNER: CANDICE LANGLOIS

Friday December 3: Ashley Swivel Chair w/ pillow & blanket (value $900) –WINNER: FRANCES FREUND

Friday December 17: Louisiana LG Black Label Smoker w/ pellets and cover ($1,300) – WINNER: KEVIN GRAHAM

FINAL DRAW for half the JACKPOT: December 31, 2021 -WINNERS: CAITLIN WIEBE AND SHANNON KLASSEN

#CommittedtoCaring

BTHC Foundation Donation Conversation With Larry Reimer

Written by Nicole Klassen/Terry Klippenstein

Larry Reimer, the Spiritual Care Coordinator at Boundary Trails Health Centre

The second annual Donation Conversation in support of the Boundary Trails Health Centre Foundation is into the final few weeks of the campaign.

This year, the Foundation hopes to raise $150,000 towards costs in three areas — specialized equipment, as well as the Palliative and Spiritual Care Programs.

“It’s an amazing resource for us to be able to draw from,” says Larry Reimer, the Spiritual Care Coordinator at Boundary Trails. “It means that there [are] funds available for palliative care, for spiritual care, for many different instruments that are purchased to help this hospital do the job they need to do with patients.”

Having taken on his current role during the pandemic, Reimer says the heavier patient load has proven to be a baptism by fire.

What does a typical day look like for a Spiritual Care Coordinator?

“I get in, I go to all the wards, deliver papers to wards so people have reading material. I pick up all my patient lists, as every day I get a new client list. I take those to my office to fill out my list. I actually spend some time getting centered and praying for those people, going out to the rooms and visiting patients. Right now that’s the bulk of it.”

Regarding the nature of his work, Reimer says every patient has a different need.

“Every patient’s in a different spot. So you have to walk in, I wait at the room before I go in. I stand and I listen a little bit to hear what God may want to say to these people. Sometimes it’s just coming to the room, listening, just being there, being a comforting presence to people. Because I’m not necessarily there to proselytize people. I’m there to bring comfort.”

Reimer served as director of Youth for Christ in Altona for seven years. He completed his spiritual care certification at Catherine Booth College in Winnipeg. He left a local pastorate to take his current post at at Boundary Trails. Reimer believes his role is valuable to the community.

“We have such a really faith based community. There are so many churches in town, it’s important to have kind of a liaison between the pastors and the hospital, especially for that lots of people will come into the hospital. Currently, my patient list is about 25 to 30 people, maybe a bit more that I’m overseeing, that I’m able to connect with churches. If they have congregants that are in the hospital, it’s important for them to know that they’re there. For me, just being a presence there, I bring that spiritual component that’s so vital for so many patients.”

The Foundation is also raising funds through a 50/50 raffle, with a current jackpot of over $34,000. The draw is being made December 31st, 2021.