Posts made in July 2024

The Community Stepping Up – RBC

It’s not every day you get a call asking for volunteer opportunities, and even rarer when they offer to pay for the privilege! But we at the Yarmouth Hospital Foundation were very happy to hear from Danny Reid, an investment retirement planner at Yarmouth RBC. As part of RBC’s Employee Volunteer Grant program, eight volunteers offered to spend a couple of hours weeding and gardening in front of Veteran’s Place at Yarmouth Regional Hospital. The resulting donation of $1,500 will help us fulfill our mandate of supporting and enhancing healthcare in our region!

 

The RBC Volunteers presenting YFH Managing Director Mary Surette with their donation.

The RBC Volunteers presenting YFH Managing Director Mary Surette (second from left) with their donation.

As Nonie Crowell (Assistant Bank Manager, RBC Yarmouth Branch) says, “The Yarmouth Hospital Foundation is a very important part of the community. Whenever we can, we will give to them.” Indeed, RBC has also assisted with our WE CARE Radiothon for numerous years. It’s all part of their employee initiative that aims to help our communities thrive.

Community-led fundraisers such as this enable the Yarmouth Hospital Foundation to expand our support throughout the Yarmouth Regional Hospital. If you’re interested in hosting a community fundraising event, give us a call at 902-749-1669. We’d be happy to help with promotion!

 

Fostering the Next Generation of Nursing

A generous Yarmouth couple has endowed the Yarmouth Hospital Foundation’s newest scholarship — an annual $1,000 scholarship for students enrolled in the LPN program at the Burridge campus of Nova Scotia Community College.

“It’s our way of giving back,” say foundation supporters Ron and Bev Smith. They decided to make this incredible contribution as an endowment to the Licensed Practical Nursing program because it’s a gift that keeps on giving. (An endowment means that the principal is invested and the return on the investment covers the scholarship each year.)

Ron knows about investments — he had a career as chief financial officer in several industries. Ron and Bev also both have strong connections to the healthcare field — Bev as a nurse and Ron as a former chair and director of the IWK Health Centre. They both grew up in Yarmouth, but they moved back from the Halifax area in 2006 when they retired. They quickly found their ideal home with a huge picture window giving them a beautiful view of Lake Milo.

Bev and Ron are particularly concerned about the stresses aging baby boomers like themselves are placing on healthcare and the need to step up recruitment of professionals in the field. “Our scholarship is a way to make a tangible difference for years to come,” Ron says, adding they hope their gift will inspire others to contribute.

Bev remembers how important it was to her own nursing career to receive a $500 scholarship. That was in 1970, she says. It paid her tuition and some other expenses.

The Smiths’ scholarship joins two others for the Burridge program that are funded by the foundation. The foundation also administers nine scholarships to the Dalhousie School of Nursing, Yarmouth Campus.

LPNs may make up to 50 percent of the nursing staff in some departments at the Yarmouth hospital, and the Burridge program has a reputation for more hands-on clinical experience than available at similar programs elsewhere in the province. “We hope our scholarship can inspire some young people to enter the nursing field,” Bev says.

Further details regarding scholarship applications will be available in September.