Legion donates $9,375 to bring comfort to residents at St. Joseph’s
By LAUREN THOMSON, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on January 27, 2022.
Sheila Donner, president of The Royal Canadian Legion Robertson Memorial Branch No.17 presents a donation for $9,375 to St. Joseph's Home site administrator Ryan Wiest. The generous donation to Covenant Foundation was made possible through the annual poppy campaign and will be used to provide recliner chairs for patients and family members of St. Joseph's Home. - SUBMITTED PHOTOThe Royal Canadian Legion Robertson Memorial Branch No. 17 gave $9,375 to help bring comfort for patients, residents and families at Covenant Health’s St. Joseph’s Home in Medicine Hat.
Sheila Donner, president of The Royal Canadian Legion Robertson Memorial Branch No.17, explained that the generous donation to Covenant Foundation was made possible through the poppy campaign.
“That poppy money is to be used to help veterans and their families who are in need,” said Donner. “We got a request from Covenant Health, St. Joseph’s.”
The request from St. Joseph’s was for recliner chairs that convert into beds, so that family members can stay over whenever they want to with their loved ones.
“We have a significant number of our veterans (at St. Joseph’s), unfortunately and fortunately, because palliative care means they’re at the end of their life but we’ve also heard that they get wonderful care at St. Joseph’s, so we’re very happy that we’re able to provide some type of comfort for the families in the form of a chair,” said Donner.
Ryan Wiest, site administrator at St. Joseph’s Home, said the money will help provide a greater level of comfort for residents.
“The (donation is) to support the patients, residents and families and this includes veterans, because we do get a lot of veterans that do come to our facility that either live here or have passed away here,” said Wiest. “It will help support greater comfort for the patients and residents and families here during their journey.”
Wiest said the chairs will help bring the “comforts of home” into St. Joseph’s.
“The Legion is very supportive, they’ve given donations in the past. This is one of their more generous donations, but they know the importance of St. Joseph’s, what they’ve done for the veterans in the community,” said Wiest. “It helps us, because we’re a non-profit organization and any donation helps to enhance the care of the patients and residents that are here.”
Donner paid tribute to Hatters for their donations.
“We have an awesome community in Medicine Hat. Even though it was limited this year and we had fewer hours at our three locations, our citizens were very generous and we were able to raise over $65,000,” said Donner. “It does your heart good to know that the community wants to help veterans and that’s what we’re here for.”
Anyone who would like to donate or get more information about donating can contact Ryan at St. Joseph’s home at (403)526-3818.
St. Joseph’s is located at 156 3rd Street NE, Medicine Hat Alberta, T1A 5M1.
