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Local business supports Rose Garden Hospice

Feb 15, 2018 | 4:00 PM

A local business is bringing a Prince Albert hospice one step closer to reality.

Don Moriarty, manager of River Park Funeral Home, donated $2,500 to the Rose Garden Hospice Association on Feb. 15.

“I work very closely in my professional capacity with people coming into the last days of their life, and presently hospitals do a good job,” Moriarty said. “But, if you’ve ever been to a real hospice, you’d understand that people’s end-of-life experience there is so much better than in a big institution.”

Moriarty experienced the difference in treatment while visiting a hospice in Regina. He said his sister spent the last month of her life with wonderful care from the staff there. Moriarty said he would like the same kind of supports to be available to people and families in Prince Albert in the future.

In order to make the donation a reality, Moriarty said he approached River Park Funeral Home’s parent company, Arbour Memorial with a fundraising pitch. He said the company makes about a dozen similar donations a year. He then called on local businesses and individuals to support the Rose Garden Hospice’s cause.

Rose Garden Hospice Foundation’s chairperson Marina Mitchell said she appreciates support from local community figures and businesses.

“It shows that the businesses within this community are really wanting to help us move this forward, and we just so appreciate any type of donation towards the hospice,” Mitchell said. “It gives us that motivation to keep going.”

In 2016, Mitchell first presented the idea of the hospice to leaders in Regina, including Prince Albert’s own MLA Joe Hargrave. Earlier that year, she said retired businessman and farmer Fred Trach donated a large parcel of land to the hospice.

Mitchell said the Rose Garden Hospice Association will be hosting fundraising events around Hospice and Palliative Care Week, which runs between May 6 and 12, 2018.

 

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas