Tracy Haddow felt a bit like Santa Claus when she got to hand over $12,650 to local nurse Kristen Carmont.
Carmont was the big winner of the 100 Mile Hospice Society’s 50/50 draw, a new initiative launched in December to help raise funds for hospice projects. Although only 506 of 1,000 tickets were sold for the Dec. 23 draw, Haddow said she was pleased with the outcome.
“There’s $12,650 for the winner and so we also got the $12,650 and once we tally for all the expenses we’ll come in at about $12,000 that we’ll be able to have to keep the program running for a while,” said Haddow, executive director of the 100 Mile District Hospice Palliative Care Society. “That’s always good news and takes lots of the stress off to know that we have those funds to be able to keep moving forward.”
Carmont was a worthy winner, Haddow said, noting she is a local nurse who supports families in their homes and does a lot of work with palliative patients and their families.
READ MORE: 100 Mile Wranglers donate $507 to local Hospice Palliative Care Society
“When we tried to call her name on the radio, she didn’t answer so I called her a little bit later and she was like ‘Is it true, is it true?!’ She was pretty excited when I saw her quite a few hours later to pick up the cheque she still had that permanent grin on her face,” Haddow said.
Hospice’s half of the money will go towards funding day-to-day operations that involve assisting and caring for terminally ill patients and their families. This includes offering support and grief counselling groups and providing special equipment like palliative mattresses and a large resource library.
Haddow said they will likely add the 50/50 draw to their set of regular fundraising events. At the moment, the main goal is to support the community and finish the new palliative care rooms at the hospital. They’ve already ordered a lot of the equipment and furniture for the rooms but are waiting for them to arrive. The rooms themselves, however, will likely be ready to use for patient accommodation within the month, should the hospital need it. There won’t be any type of grand opening for them until at least March, Haddow said.
“Although it’s been a really hard year, there are always things to be grateful for. I think hospice has a lot to be grateful for and our community has a lot to be proud of,” Haddow said.
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