At the meeting last Friday, September 6th, Pearl Robinson was honoured with a Paul Harris Fellow and Anne MacKay gave a presentation on Guelph Hospice. 

 

President Brian Martin began the meeting with a land acknowledgment and a toast to education and literacy. Matt Webster then introduced our guests, Jessica Hill, Ann, and Pearl Robinson. 

 

Anne MacKay then introduced Pearl Robinson, the recipient of a Paul Harris Fellowship. She began by saying, "Pearl Robinson is a very special person in this community. She came to hospice a number of years ago and talked about inviting people for tea, and over many years, I think she has had hundreds of people for tea for a small donation. And you know when, especially when hospice was young and people didn't know so much about it, those donations made such an impact." Our club gave Pearl a standing ovation when she was presented the award. 

 

She went on to say that Pearl volunteers frequently as Hospice, hosts garden parties, bakes for the community, drives people to appointments, and goes back and forth to Ireland to help family there. 

 

After Anne's introduction, President Martin presented Pearl with a Paul Harris Fellowship certificate. In his words, "Pearl, on behalf of the Rotary Club of Guelph, we are thrilled to present you with a Paul Harris award. It comes with this beautiful pin, and we have a certificate here for you, and we are just in awe of your many years of service to the community and all the wonderful work that you've done." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

President Martin then asked Pearl if she would like to say some words. She began, "honestly, I did not expect all of this celebration that's wonderful... You know, whatever you do for someone, whether it's just helping that individual or just calling on them, or whatever you did under the goodness of your heart, you did for the love of that person. But I guess when you you do it, you don't do it for all of this. But I guess it does give you a nice feeling to know that you're recognized." 

 

Pearl then went on to share stories about the tea party she did at the same time as the Queen's Jubilee, and how she wrote a letter to the Queen sharing a letter her family had received when the Queen was first coronated. Pearl received a letter back from the Queen explaining how touched the Queen was to read a letter that she had written so many years ago. Pearl then joked that the letter didn't give her any money for her tea party, to the laughter of all Rotarians. 

 

Pearl ended up raising 13,000 for the event, so much that Scotiabank wasn't able to double the contributions, as they had promised. Instead, they contributed $5,000. 

 

After Pearl's acceptance speech, announcements were made. Marty Fairbairn made an announcement about Lobsterfest. He emphasized the need for more ticket sales and encouraged Rotarians to promote the event to their friends, families, and colleagues. 

 

Terrie Jarvis made an announcement for the Children and Youth Committee asking more Rotarians to join the committee. Patrick Grist made an announcement about a golf tournament happening on Monday. And Aidan Harris made an announcement about his recent engagement in Ireland. 

 

After lunch, Matt Webster introduced our speaker and club member Anne MacKay. Matt discussed how he and Anne sit on the Programs Committee and how they were planning upcoming meetings. In this conversation, Anne said that she could present on the relationship between the Rotary Club of Guelph and Guelph Hospice. 

 

Anne MacKay began by discussing the early days of Hospice. She explained that Hospice started in 1980 with eight community leaders, including a nurse community builder, a local doctor.

 

Anne explained how her mom has volunteered 40 of the 42 years, at Hospice. Much of Anne's early knowledge of Hospice comes from her mom. Hospice in Guelph began in a small donated room in the Guelph General's nursing residence. Anne's mom would joke that the room was so small that you could only walk in and back out. It was just a tiny, little place.

 

In those early years, they did home and hospital visits, group supports, and one-to-one support sessions. They were so small that their staff had to be trained at Connestoga. 

 

Hospice grew to its current size when our Rotary club got involved. Anne emphasized how she "thinks of this club as being such an incubator." For the 75th anniversary, our club picked Hospice as its anniversary project. Our club found the location on I've heard some of the beautiful stories. Lawrie knows some, and Carrie knows some of it about saying we're going to pick this group as our 75th anniversary project, and what contributions you made, finding the new location, helped to design the space, painted it, hosted garage sales to raise money. John Valariote even wrote the letters of constitution for hospice. Anne went on to discuss how five of Hospice Wellington's board chairs have been Rotary members. 

 

Anne then discussed how Hospice Wellington would not function without its volunteers. "For so long, there were maybe two or three staff, and everyone else was a volunteer. We now do in house training twice a year. We have a team now of 160 people, because folks, you know, move away, and we have to keep replenishing that. That team, the grief and palliative supports, they are amazing because, you know, all of these people have had experience with death themselves, and just want to make it a little bit easier for someone else."

 

Hospice has Complementary health treatments, a spiritual counselor said, a music therapist among others who are their to support residents in different ways. 

 

Anne then explained how residents must have "a life threatening diagnosis, fewer than three months expected palliative, not curative, and a Waterloo, Wellington connection. So it might be that the child lives in Guelph and the parent lives in Thunder Bay, and they're trying to get a bit closer together."

 

Anne went on to discuss different aspects of Hospice Wellington that make it a beautiful space: the local made quilts on each bed, the palliative day programs, workshops, therapy sessions, the walking group, among many others. 

 

 

The big thing to remember, Anne emphasized is, "the sooner you start talking about issues and things wishes that your loved one or you might have, the easier it gets as you go further along in the journey." So start your planning sooner rather than later." 

 

Anne also explained how grief support is not just for people who have recently lost a loved one. "Anyone in Wellington county can receive grief support, and there's no time limit, because we know for some people, a couple of months later they're ready to have some support. For some people, it might be 10 years later. So anytime you are ready, we're here for you again." 

 

Another big thing to remember is that there is no cost to families. Hospice Wellington is completely free for its residents. About 43% of the funding comes from the Ministry of Health, and the rest is made through memorials, individual gifts, and special events. Anne is the person people talk to about special gifts that they might like to make. 

 

One of the last things Anne discussed is a special project that happened with hospice Wellington and I believe, family health teams and the ambulance service. The project allows individuals who are coming to the end of life to come to Hospice right away when they call an ambulance. The idea is that the easier it is for the resident on their last trip, the better it is for everyone. All the resident has to do is fill out paperwork ahead of time to confirm this request. So you know, if you take nothing from this, that. Backup. Referrals are huge. 

 

After Anne's presentation there was a quick Q&A before Brian called the meeting to a close. 

 

Notes taken by Otter.ai, edited by Aidan Harris.