Bake sales, thrift shops, and nice retired ladies from the local community. If those are your first impressions when you hear the words “hospital auxiliary,” you would be only partly right. In what might be described as a warm embrace, the Peace Arch Hospital Auxiliary surrounds the healthcare centre it supports with thoughtful patient comforts and medical equipment that might not ordinarily be within the scope of the hospital’s budget—things like a new portable ventilator, residential care busses, and a patient hair salon—as well as contributing to major campaigns for essential upgrades to PAH’s emergency department and maternity ward. 

More than anything, however, the Peace Arch Hospital Auxiliary provides that extra human touch that can make such an important difference in a patient’s stay at the hospital: refurbishing family waiting areas, easing the transition from hospital ward back to home, and encouraging young school children from the area to write sweet (and often unintentionally humorous) valentine’s cards to patients and staff. 

As the Peace Arch Hospital Auxiliary celebrates its 76th anniversary (which is six years older than the hospital itself), this episode of Power to Heal will explore the organization’s very earliest days, when young (and sometimes pregnant) wives would trudge along unpaved roads to collect donations towards a badly needed resource in the White Rock community: its own hospital. Along the way, we’ll also learn how a community-oriented, grassroots organization like the PAH Auxiliary can help connect a busy, sometimes inward-looking healthcare centre with the very people that may one day rely on it.  

Guests:  

This episode of Power to Heal also introduces the podcast’s new host, Lance Peverley, a former newspaper reporter, editor of the Peace Arch News for 12 years, and a longtime resident of the White Rock/South Surrey area.  

About the Power to Heal podcast: 

Presented by Peace Arch Hospital Foundation in White Rock, British Columbia, Power to Heal takes you behind the scenes of an innovative hospital Foundation and introduces you to the team who find new and sometimes surprising ways to engage with the local community and help fund the best healthcare possible in the region.  

Since 1988, the Foundation has raised over $250 million for capital projects, medical equipment, and community health programs. Its passionate and caring team’s number one priority is the prudent stewardship of your gifts and the resulting positive impact on patients and medical staff at Peace Arch Hospital and the entire White Rock-South Surrey community. 

Download Power to Heal wherever you get your favourite podcasts. 

Links: 

Peace Arch Hospital Auxiliary (official site) 

For more information about the Peace Arch Hospital Foundation, or to make a donation, visit pahfoundation.ca 

 

For social: 

Bake sales, thrift shops, and nice retired ladies from the local community: if those are your first impressions when you hear the words “hospital auxiliary,” you would be only partly right. In what might be described as a warm embrace, the Peace Arch Hospital Auxiliary surrounds the healthcare centre it supports with thoughtful patient comforts and medical equipment that might not ordinarily be within the scope of the hospital’s budget. More than anything, however, the Peace Arch Hospital Auxiliary provides that extra human touch that can make such an important difference in a patient’s stay at the hospital. As the Peace Arch Hospital Auxiliary celebrates its 76th anniversary, this episode of Power to Heal will explore the organization’s very earliest days, when young (and sometimes pregnant) wives would trudge along unpaved roads to collect donations towards a badly needed resource in the White Rock community: its own hospital. Along the way, we’ll also learn how a community-oriented, grassroots organization like the PAH Auxiliary can help connect a busy, sometimes inward-looking healthcare centre with the very people that may one day rely on it.  

#givingback #peacearchhospital #hospitalauxiliary