Second Wind Dreams Wins an Award!

This is where I and my fellow Second Wind Dreamers were Wednesday evening. It's Government House and was once the residence of the Lt.-Governors of Alberta--well the first 6 anyway. Building started in 1912 and it was officially opened in 1913.  It was closed as a residence in 1938 after Lt.-Governor Bowen refused to give Royal Assent to 3 bills William Aberhart's Social Credit government wanted passed. Although the economic times of the Depression were cited as the reason, Aberhart had the electricity and heat shut off, and after a few days of trying to tough it out, Bowen and his family moved out. Aberhart also removed Bowen's support staff and official car. From that point on, no Lt.-Governor ever lived at Government House again. In 1966 a residence was purchased in the Glenora district for the Lt.-Governors. That residence was torn down in 2005 and at present there is no official residence for the Lt.-Governors in Alberta. Aberhart's government sold off all the wonderful Edwardian furniture and fixtures--thanks for that! In the 1940's the place was used as a boarding house for American pilots ferrying supplies for the Alaska Highway; then it was a federal military hospital; and then a convalescent home for vets after the war. In fact, Diane's dad, who was in the Royal Canadian Navy, spent sometime there after he was injured when his ship was torpedoed.  She had never known about this until she told him this week that we would be dining at Government House. His 2 brothers were serving on the same ship and were killed in that torpedo attack.

The property was returned to the province in 1964: a Provincial Museum was built on part of the grounds and Government House was restored and re-opened as a conference centre. Some further renovations were done in the 1970's and in 1985 Government House was declared to be a Provincial Historical Resource. It's a beautiful building--I had never been in it before.  We were given a tour, dined on the 1st floor, the reception was on the 2nd floor, and the official pictures were taken on the 3rd floor where there is a fabulous 100+ seats conference room in the round.

Second Wind Dreams was one of the 3 recipients of the group Minster's Senior Service Award.  These awards have been given out for 13 years and there were a total of 80 nominations for group and individual awards this year. We had known for about a month that we had won, but the official statement was issued on Wednesday. Not all the members of the committee were able to attend, but we were allowed to have 5 people and we also invited Averil Suriyakumaran  from the Edmonton General to join us. Claire, a resident at the EG, is on the SWD committee and she was thrilled to be able to attend such a function--it was probably the most exciting thing that has happened in her life.  She is in her 50's and has been a resident at the EG in a wheelchair for over 10 years now.  Imagine what it must be like for the younger people who are consigned to a life in a long-term care facility either because of diseases like MS, or because of injuries. And the majority of the other residents are over 75. Something to think about if we get to feeling sorry for ourselves.

Anyway, we were introduced to the new Lt.-Governor, His Honour Col. Retired Donald Ethell, who has only been in the job for a month. He's quite informal and was new to the whole protocol thing.  His Aide-de-Camp, a lovely young gal in the military shepherded him around. We met the Minister of Seniors, Mary Anne Jablonski and other government types.  The MLA for Edmonton Centre (where the EG is located), Laurie Blakeman was there and  sat with us at our table and gave the introduction for SWD. She was the only Liberal MLA there and has been quite supportive of the EG and our issues. Diane and I were interviewed by Omni TV (although I have yet to see the interview on their newscasts),  we all admired the wonderful paintings, all by Alberta artists of course, that have been purchased for Government House,  had a fancy dinner, and then received our award. We didn't know this before but the government only wanted 2 reps of the group to be in the pictures and receive the award and that ended up being Diane and I. We weren't happy about that because we had thought that everyone would be up there. But Doreen, Claire, and Kay were mentioned and acknowledged.

Our award

I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we had a most lovely evening and felt pretty special. It was so gratifying to be acknowledged for the work we do at the EG--especially since we often struggle to get support from some sectors of the EG. The SWD committee is composed of 6-8 people, gets all our money from private donations, not government funding, and has managed to fulfill 105+ plus wishes in the largest long-term care facility in Alberta and I think, Canada--504 residents. Mind you, the work that the other award recipients was pretty impressive and we felt humbled in their presence.

Doreen took some pictures, but she doesn't download them, just prints them off at Wal-Mart or wherever, so I have no photos other than this one of the award.  But we are supposed to get a CD of the photos and  some printed for us too. So I will post another blog when we get pictures.

Big Day!

Thursday May 6 was a big day! One reason was a our Second Wind Dreams (SWD) Art Sale and Pyramid Auction Fundraiser. This program has been at the Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre for 5 years and is volunteer run--chiefly by about 8 of us! It is a sad comment on this world that in a facility of 500 residents, so few family members volunteer for our Family Council, the Welcoming Committee, and SWD. In fact it's the same 8 people who do all of this. And when it comes to the Welcoming Committe, it's about 4 of us who take turns every month delivering our welcoming package of a card and either a stuffed teddy bear or puppy.

With SWD we have had varying degrees of support from staff and admin over the years and that can make it difficult to get the wishes from the residents and to fulfill them. Nevertheless in the 5 years of operation we are at wish 105--so I think we have done pretty well! We are so fortunate to have Diane Berge, who was the one who heard about this program from a lady in Calgary and thought we should have it at the EG. Diane has worked in a variety of  jobs over the years and has some amazing contacts, especially in the art field as she ran an art gallery. She's a natural schmoozer, so that helps a lot! I'm not--I leave that to Duffy! lol!

We have had a wide array of dreams over the years--from a trip to the dollar store or a dinner out to a 3-day pass to the Edmonton Indy where the resident was even taken into the pit, tickets to an Edmonton Oilers hockey game, luaus on units, and helping a group of younger residents go to a dinner theatre. In my own case, my mother, who had never been in an airplane in her life, was able to take a plane ride and fly over the farm she grew up on just north of Edmonton. In addition when my parents were going to be celebrating their 60th anniversary last September the SWD team helped me out. As I am alone, it would have been a daunting task to do it all myself, but they decorated the unit, Diane baked a cake and they helped out at the event.

We have become a close-knit group and are good friends. When my mother died in January, I was sent a dozen white roses and they also sent a beautiful wreath for the funeral. Doreen, Kay, Edwin, and Diane attended the funeral and Diane even came out to the cemetary--which is out of town. These ladies and 2 gentleman are some of the best people I have ever met and I feel so honored to know them and work with them.  They have all gone through the loss of loved ones, had put their best efforts into looking after their loved ones, and feel that volunteering at the EG is an important thing to do. And they continue do this even though some of them no longer have loved ones in care. They are an inspiration and I admire, respect, and love them.

Kay, Doreen, and Diane at the ticket selling table. Diane's daughter Therese is in the background in black, and David, one of the EG chaplains is by the table

Diane explaining the pyramid auction.

So our fundraiser--we started planning it last year and I think it went well. We partnered with the Epilepsy Association as both long-term care and epilipsy suffer from being hidden in the shadows and having such a negative connotation. One of the big reasons for our SWD program is to show people that just because someone is in long-term care, it doesn't mean their life is immediately over or that they still don't have dreams to fulfill and that they can't have fun.We learned some things from our first venture with a fundraiser this size--like don't bother with a lunch! Coffee and cookies are enough! I don't think we made as much as we hoped, but we got good exposure, local artists were able to show their work, and as usual we had fun too!

Doreen and Kay

Edwin, who is 90 and still volunteers and Louis, who had a book signing for his The Dragon and the Cross

Edith (standing), Kay, and yours truly who is still suffering from a sinus cold and cough!