The Maison McCulloch Hospice in Sudbury said it is more than pleased with the results of its local 50-50 cash lottery for March and April, which is now at the halfway point, with the local jackpot pushing $90,000.
Executive director Julie Aubé said the popular 50-50 draw is crucially important right now because the new budget tabled at Queen's Park last week does not directly spell out new money for any specific palliative care operations in Ontario.
"They haven't specified. So it remains to be seen what they're going to do with, for example, I believe it's a $2 billion pledge to Home and Community Care support services. So hospices fall under Home and Community Care support services. So it remains to be seen whether or not there will be money out of that," Aubé said.
The 2023 budget document provided a paragraph on palliative care:
"Supporting End-of-Life Care: The government is working to expand palliative care services in local communities and adding 23 new hospice beds to the 500 beds already available across the province. This will provide people comfort and dignity near their communities and loved ones when they are at the end of their lives."
Aubé said she is also hopeful that some funding could come through the mental health portfolio.
"There was $425 million that was committed for mental health services. So one of the things that hospices do really well, is grief and bereavement support," she said.
Aubé said not enough attention is paid to the problem of grief that affects so many people in many ways.
"People that are suffering over loss, they can't understand the symptoms that they're going through,” she said. “They need to process those symptoms, and those actually result in health care crises across the community."
Putting the clinical needs aside Aubé said the Sudbury hospice still needs a regular influx of cash to continue operating each year.
"So we have to raise $1.6 million to operate,” she said. “OK, so that does not include any capital purchases whatsoever. This is salaries, supplies, you know, everything that we're not funded for. So hospices are only funded for personal support workers, Registered Nurses and Registered Practical Nurses wages."
She said that the pressure to stay afloat creates its own kind of stress.
“I have to say it's extremely stressful that a health-care service of our calibre has to fundraise to pay someone to prepare meals for our residents, to pay housekeepers and pay for cleaning supplies to keep our hallways and rooms clean. This is just basic operating dollars," said Aubé.
She said the goal is to raise at least $100,000 a month through the cash lottery.
She also remarked on earlier media reports that the hospice was relying on the food bank to feed its clients. Aubé said it's not as if somebody at the foodbank was sneaking in the back door with a case of chicken soup.
She said the kitchen staff at the hospice are able to shop for groceries using an account from the Banque d’aliments Sudbury Food Bank, which she said amounts to nearly $50,000 a year.
In addition to that, the food bank is also able to provide fresh produce and fresh milk on a weekly basis. The Sudbury food bank acts as a central hub to fundraise and distribute food to several agencies across the city.
It's all part of running Ontario's largest single hospice, which has 20 beds, said Aubé. Each year the McCulloch hospice serves roughly 200 clients.
All at the same time, McCulloch is providing vital end-of-life care for the people who need it. Aubé said the hospice is in regular communication with Health Sciences North (HSN) to help with accepting patients who no longer need acute care.
Len Gillis covers health care and mining for Sudbury.com.
