HOSPICE TO BENEFIT
Iacobelli family helps in T.O.
Thanks to a $1-million donation from the Iacobelli family of Leamington, members of the homeless community in Toronto in need of hospice care have a newly renovated facility available to serve their needs.
The Iacobelli family — Henry and Lina Iacobelli and their children Sandra Macera, John Iacobelli and Diana Remark — provided the $1-million anchor donation, allowing for a much-needed expansion to the facility.
“We visited the hospice last Christmas, in 2019, and saw first hand the impact of Journey Home Hospice's care for people most in need,” Macera said.
“It was extremely humbling and very moving what they're doing there.
“It has been really incredible to see the program grow and develop, and it helps to empower other communities, provincially, nationally and internationally,” she said, by offering specialized training for Canadian and international hospice leaders.
Macera said the hospice is the first of its kind and will teach health-care professionals and leaders in other communities to provide the same service.
People who are homeless have a higher risk of illness, according to Nancy Lefebre, executive director of Saint Elizabeth Foundation, a national charity that focuses on providing end-of-life care for Canadians most in need and the operator of Journey Home Hospice.
Lefebre said about 75 per cent of residents have at least one serious health condition and many have two or more. They are five times more likely to have heart disease and four times more likely to have cancer than the general population.
“We always say that living on the streets is hard, but dying there is harder,” Lefebre said. The hospice, she said, “is the result of a shared passion to tackle not one but two difficult societal issues — homelessness and death.
“Our hospice offers a safe, welcoming and caring environment for people who are homeless to spend their final weeks and days.”
The hospice expansion increased the facility's capacity by 150 per cent, allowing it to support about 100 homeless people needing palliative care per year.
Macera said the family is connected to both Leamington and Toronto through their businesses — Sun-brite Foods Inc. in Leamington and Unico Inc. and Primo Foods in Toronto.
And when they saw the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which “affected the potential expansion of the hospice (it) really resonated with me personally and my family.
“We feel a duty and obligation to give back to the communities that have supported us,” Macera said. “When it looked like the project wouldn't go forward, we thought we needed to help.
“It just made sense, the donation made sense, to us from both a business and personal perspective.”
In 2016, the Iacobelli family made a $1-million donation to Hospice Erie Shores Campus in Leamington.
And the family is encouraging others to donate and support the Journey Home Hospice capital campaign.
“What they're doing there is honestly so touching. I can't even explain, when I was there, the feeling that comes over you — just the goodness that they're doing for the people,” Macera said.
For more information or to make a donation, visit www.journeyhomehospice.ca.