Hospice opening only a few months away
Sentinel Review May 4, 2009
Posted By Heather Rivers, HEALTH REPORTER
Friends and family remembered Ron "Hawk" Fewster Sunday during the seventh annual Hike For Hospice.
Fewster died in November of 2006 of lung cancer that had spread to his spinal cord.
"He was fun loving and outgoing -- a goof," said his wife Cathy Fewster. "He was very caring."
Since then his friends and family, calling themselves Hawk's Angels, have raised over $30,000 for the hospice set to hold its grand opening on Aug. 26.
Paralyzed by the disease, Fewster spent the last month of his life in palliative care at Woodstock General Hospital. "He would have been a perfect candidate for Sakura House," said his sister-in-law Marlene Fewster who is also the hospice co-ordinator with Oxford's Victorian Order of Nurses. "The hospital was as good as it can get but it was a hospital."
Sakura House's rooms will provide more peace and quiet, and space for friends and family to gather during the last days of their loved one's life. Each room in the newly renovated building will have a view and access to the outside grounds.
The hike that boasted 175 walkers raising $35,000, was comprised of one kilometre, five- and 10- km hikes throughout the city.
With the grand opening of the hospice on the horizon, it made the event even more meaningful. "It seemed like sometimes it took forever (for the hospice to be completed)," said VON Oxford executive director Grace Breen. "Now it's happening so quickly."
Breen said local residents will also be able to get a tour of the facility on Aug. 29 and 30, with the first patient being admitted on Aug. 31.
Money raised during the Hike for Hospice is down slightly from last year's event which raised $55,000. "I don't think its any reflection on support," Breen said. "It's because of the choices people have to make with unemployment and everything."
Campaign director Christine Wilde said the organization is very close to the $700,000 mark, or almost halfway to their goal of $1.5 million for capital projects and equipment.
"This is crunch time -- we're very close to the grand opening," Wilde said. "We've seen a bit of a slowdown because of economic times, but we will reach our goal."
Wilde said they've also utilized a $100,000 donation from Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada to launch fundraising for a $1 million endowment fund for the hospice.