{"id":20164,"date":"2018-03-21T15:46:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T19:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=20164"},"modified":"2018-03-21T15:46:00","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T19:46:00","slug":"you-never-know-when-youre-going-to-need-it-put-your-best-foot-forward-with-hospice-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/you-never-know-when-youre-going-to-need-it-put-your-best-foot-forward-with-hospice-hike\/","title":{"rendered":"You never know when you\u2019re going to need it: Put your best foot forward with Hospice hike"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heather R. makes herself comfortable on a couch.
\nIn her sight line is the hand-made harvest table she\u2019s come to know so well, groaning down with fresh baked goods whose smells intermingles with the inviting scent of fresh flowers.
\nIt\u2019s a scene that plays out in countless homes across York Region every day, and this is no exception. Only, this isn\u2019t a traditional home \u2013 it\u2019s a home away from home for individuals nearing the end of their lives.
\nHeather is a familiar face at Newmarket\u2019s Margaret Bahen Hospice, where her mother has been living for quite some time. Although it is just a stone\u2019s throw from Southlake Regional Health Centre, it\u2019s far removed from a hospital atmosphere.
\nThe 10-bed hospice opened last fall and, now fully partnered with Doane House Hospice, the Margaret Bahen is gearing up for its first Hike for Hospice, a fundraising event aimed not only to raise $50,000 for the largely-community-supported facility, but also build awareness of the hospice option in the Region.
\n\u201cWe have around a $700,000 budget to raise annually,\u201d says Deborah Kesheshian, Director of Development at the Margaret Bahen Hospice. \u201cThe government funds half our budget. There is no cost for the families here, so when the kids come through and they want ice cream, a bowl of soup at lunch time, they have it. We want to make sure everyone\u2019s gas tank is a little bit fuller. There is no cost to families and we want to keep it that way. Hospice shouldn\u2019t be a burden; it should alleviate their burden.\u201d
\nIt has certainly alleviated the burden shouldered by Heather and her family. The time immediately before Hospice was a difficult one for her family. Her father was taking care of her mother most of the time, an effort she says was \u201ckilling him slowly\u201d because he simply didn\u2019t have time to care for himself. She helped fill in the gaps when she could, but it was not a long-term solution \u2013 nor were hospitals.
\n\u201cWe had a tour as soon as we got here and we thought it was really nice, clean, but not the sterile medical place of a hospital,\u201d she shares. \u201cIt is home-like, inviting, and that makes it more relaxed for families \u2013 as well as my mom. Our main goal is to keep mum as comfortable as possible and make the process as easy for dad as possible.\u201d
\nWhen the grandchildren come to visit after school or on weekends, they don\u2019t have the extra worry of after school snacks or the odd meal here and there. Resources are available at the Hospice, so families \u2013 along with a dedicated nursing staff and host of volunteers \u2013 can get down to the business of living.
\n\u201cI knew this was going to be a home, but I didn\u2019t know what kind of home,\u201d says Heather, whose mother worked many years as a nurse. \u201cWhen you\u2019ve been exposed to hospitals and nursing homes and things like that for so long, this is not the norm. You get that medical, sterile environment in your head with a fast pace, but this is just the opposite.\u201d
\nThis spring\u2019s Hike for Hospice will go towards ensuring other local families have as positive an experience as Heather.
\n\u201cAny one of us could be Heather R., we could all be in her situation,\u201d says Ms. Kesheshian. \u201cWe\u2019re all going to have parents or loved ones who need this home. As much as we don\u2019t know it prior to needing it, it is such a relief to know it is here when we do. Knowing any one of us could be in Heather\u2019s position, it is important to make sure we keep the Margaret Bahen Hospice solid in the community.\u201d
\nAnyone can join in the hike, which will take participants from Fairy Lake, to the Hospice on Queen Street and back again. It is designed to accommodate people of all ages and abilities, including wheelchairs, strollers and dogs.
\n\u201cWhen we get here, we hope all the families and residents who are here will look out at this mass of people wishing them well, just being there to say we support you, your family, and we will have a moment of silence for folks who have made this their last home with their families,\u201d she says. \u201cIt is very important that people see what this beautiful facility has to offer because every one of us could potentially need it.\u201d
\nAdds Heather: \u201cA lot of people are in my situation where I am not just worried about mum and my own family, I\u2019m worried about dad because he\u2019s still living on his own. It alleviates having to worry about the cost and how everyone\u2019s going to get a meal. It is about being there with dignity and just being there with no worries.\u201d
\nThis year\u2019s Hike for Hospice takes place Sunday, May 6, at Fairy Lake. Registration begins at 9 a.m. Event time: 11 a.m. For more information, call 905-967-1500 x133.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heather R. makes herself comfortable on a couch.
\nIn her sight line is the hand-made harvest table she\u2019s come to know so well, groaning down with fresh baked goods whose smells intermingles with the inviting scent of fresh flowers.
\nIt\u2019s a scene that plays out in countless homes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/2018-03-22-05.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5fe","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-20 14:06:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}