From Filomena Nalewajek – Canuck Place Children’s Hospice

 

Dear participants:

 

From all of us at Canuck Place Children’s Hospice to all of you in the YVR community and the Canucks for Kids Fund, congratulations on the resounding success of your 19th annual golf tournament.

 

Last year, YVR Golf for Kids raised $190,000 for Canuck Place. Thanks to our generous donors, including this wonderful long-term partnership between the YVR community and the Canucks for Kids Fund, Canuck Place remains a refuge, a home-away-from-home for children and families facing unimaginable circumstances. Our unique, individualized programs give families much needed rest and recuperation -- ease the pain of children suffering from a devastating illness and help create joyous and loving memories for siblings that they will carry throughout their life.

 

Canuck Place is dedicated to providing world-class pediatric palliative care to an ever-growing number of BC families. Our program has grown by 70% since 2001 and since opening a ninth bed April 2008, operational capacity has increased by 12.5%. During this past year, we averaged 90% capacity, with 412 admissions of children at the Hospice.

 

Our goal is to reach every child and family in BC that needs the care of Canuck Place, and we know that currently we are only reaching at most 25% -- clearly there is more to be done. In response, we have begun to explore building a second hospice which would be located in Abbotsford. Our vision is that both locations would serve the entire province, with children and families admitted to a location based on care requirements and acuity factors rather than geographic proximity. We are excited by this project and realize the significance that a second hospice would have to so many.

 

Looking ahead, much work remains to make the dream of a second Canuck Place hospice a reality but we are committed to making it happen. To realize our bold next step we will need our friends beside us, including the large group of employees representing the YVR community, helping us reach out to bring more people alongside to share our vision. Your continued support is vitally important. On behalf of all the children and families who need and use the services of Canuck Place, I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you for helping make a difference.

 

Sincerely,

 

Filomena Nalewajek Chief Executive Officer