Customs officers’ run kickstarts fundraising efforts for dialysis unit - May. 18, 2010
Kathy Bockus/Courier
Patti Frost gives her son, Mike Bone, a congratulatory kiss at the end of a relay that raised more than $6,000 to kick off the local fundraising efforts for the new dialysis unit at the Charlotte County Hospital. Bone, a Canada Border Services Agency officer, spearheaded a group of fellow employees to take part in a 116 kilometres relay from Saint John to St. Stephen, representing the distance dialysis patients have to travel for treatment.
BY KATHY BOCKUS
kathy@stcroixcourier.ca
ST. STEPHEN – The campaign to raise $350,000 for a satellite dialysis unit at the Charlotte County Hospital is off and running — literally.
Saturday, over a period of 11 hours and 22 minutes, a small group of Canada Border Service Agency officers made the 116-kilometre, one-way trip from the Saint John Regional Hospital back to Charlotte County raising more than $6,000 for the dialysis unit.
“This is tremendous, absolutely spectacular, a real kick off to the campaign,” enthused Steve Backman, chair of the Charlotte County Hospital Foundation which has pledged to raise the funds to complement the more than $1.3 million committed by the provincial government.
“This is the kind of community based, kick-off plan we were looking for and it came right out of the blue. It was a wonderful surprise” said Backman.
He thanked the CBSA officers, clad in their running gear, which included their grey “Port Runners Relay” shirts, for recharging the board which has been working on some fundraising ideas.
Backman said the board’s steering committee hoped to soon announce an aggressive fund raising plan to raise the $350,000 by January. He called the CBSA relay a “real incentive” for the board.
On a lighter note, Backman, during a small reception at the conclusion of the relay, offered what he called “a small piece of advice for you in your jobs as customs officers” that he said stemmed from personal experience.
“Be careful who you send over for a secondary inspection because you just might end up marrying them,” he said. Amid much laughter, he explained his wife Ann Robinson, now a lawyer, once worked as a CBSA officer.
“We are truly thankful for the commitment and dedication you have shown,” said hospital administrator Sharon Tucker, who, with Backman, greeted the group of runners who arrived at the hospital Saturday around suppertime.
Tucker announced that construction on the hospital renovations is expected to begin in July and the dialysis unit is expected to be operational by January of 2011.
Tucker said within the next couple of weeks some design change development drawings will be on display in the hospital’s lobby.
The satellite dialysis unit will have five haemodialysis stations and will operate three days per week, 12 hours per day, with the capacity to accommodate 10 patients. The unit will be located on the third floor of the hospital’s east wing, where the administration offices are currently located.
CBSA officer Mike Bone, who spearheaded the relay run with his coworkers, said everything went like clockwork Saturday.
He took the first leg of the relay, a 10-kilometre segment from the hospital to the end of Manawagonish Road.
“Everything went smoothly; the timing was good. We had no casualties,” he said with a grin. One officer, Adrianne Archambault, rode her horse from the Pennfield Irving to Tim Hortons in St. George.
“That went over very well,” said Bone. He said he appreciated all the help he received from his fellow officers in making the relay happen.
Annabelle Juneau, a retired CBSA officer, took part in the final leg of the relay from the Charlotte Mall in St. Stephen to the CCH. Bone said she was one of the relay’s top fundraisers.
Juneau, who is running for the Liberals in the September provincial election, said she was in caucus in St. Andrews last week. There, she spoke to Premier Shawn Graham and the rest of the MLAs and “they all very generously pledged in support of this.”
Tucker said the satellite dialysis unit will positively affect the Charlotte County residents who now must travel to either Saint John or Fredericton for treatments.
“It’s going to mean these people are no longer spending an hour and a half on the road, spending four to five hours on a dialysis machine and then being driven home again.
“It’s going to bring some quality back to their lives and it’s going to mean when they get off a dialysis machine, they’re home. There’s no cost that you can associate with that.”
She also noted the symbolic distance CBSA officers travelled, and the rainy conditions that prevailed Saturday.
“These people on dialysis have no choice; it doesn’t matter if it is ice or snow or rain, they still have to be there. Three times a week they have to be hooked up and that’s their life maintenance.”
Tucker described the effort by the CBSA officers as a “true example of what people can do when they partner.”
“This is setting the benchmark for others,” said Tucker. “We have heard there are others in the community waiting to hear that it’s time to step forward. There are a number of initiatives that people have shared with us that we’re going to be hearing more of in the next couple of months.”
“It’s time to step forward,” said Backman.
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