Representatives from St. Joseph’s Lifecare Foundation and Stedman Community Hospice spoke to County of Brant councillors to request $170,000 at a council meeting on Tuesday, January 31.
Julie Powell, president and CEO of St. Joseph’s Lifecare Foundation addressed the councillors first during the meeting, explaining the work that the foundation does within the County of Brant and surrounding areas.
“I’m sure most of you are familiar with our community hospice, but we provide around the clock care for end of life patients in our community,” she said. “We are the only hospice within the city, the county and surrounding areas. We also provide community outreach for patients who wish to remain in their home as long as possible.”
Powell said that in 2022, the hospice cared for patients from as young as one month to 102 years old, with a total of 992 families cared for.
“No family ever gets a bill for the care that they receive for hospice. Hospice care is 1/3 the cost of hospital care and it is for the entire family, not just the patient. Provincial government plays a critical role in funding hospice, but they only provide about two thirds of the cost for hospice 1/3 of that needs to come from the community. Approximately $1.4 million every year needs to be raised through community donations to support the hospice, which goes towards things like new beds, patient lifts, food for patients, and frontline nursing care.”
Powell requested $100,000 for the Stedman Community Hospice, while Sandra Ramelli, vice president people & strategy at St. Joseph’s Long Term Care Home, spoke to request $70,000 for a new project.
“When we think about the impact that COVID has felt like a person going through the wringer. I think our residents have felt isolated, our staff have felt overwhelmed, and so the idea of creating something that brings hope is what we’re striving to do,” Ramelli said.
After reflecting on how the pandemic has affected long-term care, the organization partnered with Mohawk College to bring a robot into their facility.
“TEMI is an artificial intelligence robot that we are partnering with Mohawk to introduce into the lives of our residents. We brainstormed with our residents about what the TEMI robot can bring to them and the difference that can make in their lives. We all walked away super excited about this particular initiative. We want to bring state of the art technology that really hones in on the body, the mind in the spirit.”
Ramelli explained that the $70,000 would help the foundation purchase TEMI to run exercise programming, detect slip and falls, lead meditation, communicate with loved ones, telehealth with doctors, and more at St. Joseph’s Long Term Care Home.
Following the presentation, council members moved to defer the information to budget discussions.
