Auxiliary to St. Joseph's Continuing Care Centre celebrates 75 years
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About 75 years ago in October of 1946, 10 women of our community formed the Auxiliary to the Hotel Dieu Hospital, inspired by the work of many religious, local sisters. Now, that same Auxiliary to St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre (SJCCC) is celebrating its milestone of philanthropy.
“To each member: congratulations for a job well done, for your significant contribution, your every act of generosity and your gift of time, help(ing) to build this organization,” said Auxiliary president Anne Vincelli.
After the auxiliary split from the hospital in 2004 as part of the amalgamation of the Hotel Dieu and Cornwall General hospitals, the members switched gears to assist SJCCC residents who require assistance with essential daily activities, hoping to improve their quality of life.
SJCCC is a long-term care facility that is also one of the few in the region able to care for those requiring complex medical care. It’s owned and run by the same Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph who founded Hotel Dieu and a number of other care facilities in Cornwall, and who brought long-term care to the same site at Water and York streets the original Hotel Dieu occupied in the 20th century. So while its affiliation to a hospital changed, its ties to the religious hospitallers remained unchanged.
“Today we are fewer in number, but our hearts are in the right place,” said Vincelli. “We are committed to enhance the resident services at SJCCC and help it become a true home. We depend on our gift shop, the annual rummage sale, the Christmas lunch and bazaar, the rip-open (Nevada) lottery ticket sales, and organized fundraising events throughout the year.”
Vincelli explained volunteers have not been allowed in the centre since March of 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and it has been challenging.
“The volunteers miss not being there. A lot of us are retired and seniors. This is an activity we look forward to throughout our day… and we graciously gift our time to help residents, and families and staff,” she said.
Vincelli is hoping to see that volunteers are able to return next month, especially to run the newly renovated gift shop.
“We look forward to a new look in the gift shop… so it will be a much nicer place than it was before,” she said. “We are very grateful to the administration to allow for that to happen.”
One thing has changed since the auxiliary’s inception 75 years ago: male volunteers have joined, which is something Vincelli said she was very happy to see.
“It started out originally as a female organization with just women. The men have helped out now with things like selling the rip-open lottery tickets, they like to come out and help with bingo… we are grateful that men have taken an interest and are willing to serve along with the women members,” she said.
“The most important thing (after 75 years) is to remember our sisters,” she said. “Because they were the foundation of our organization…it’s really important to remember we are in service to the community in the way that the sisters were. To all the sister hospitallers who exemplified compassion and generosity of spirit and became models for each of us to emulate: we commit our efforts to continue a work (you) inspired.”
To learn more about the auxiliary, or become a volunteer, visit www.sjccc.ca/sjeng/?page_id=116
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