Walk to boost hospice awareness while raising funds for expansion
Tara Poulin’s Marathon of Memories taking place in June also a tribute to her mother
‘‘ It allowed us to just be with her instead.
TARA POULIN WALK ORGANIZER
Tara Poulin would not have been able to savour the final hours with her mother before she died without Hospice Niagara.
The 40-year-old Welland woman is organizing a walk in memory of her mom on the one-year anniversary of her death, June 3.
She has a fundraising goal of $10,000 for the event in support of Hospice Niagara, which is being called Marathon of Memories.
As of Monday, close to $4,000 had been raised through a GoFundMe page in support of the cause dedicated to Pam Poulin, a grandmother of four. She died at age 67 of metastatic breast cancer.
Poulin, who will be joined on her 40-kilometre walk by her partner Dave Sinclair, her dogs Millie and Gracie, and various friends and family, will begin the trek at Hospice Niagara’s St. Catharines site, the Stabler Centre, where Pam her mom spent her final hours. It will end at Merritt Island in Welland.
While her mom’s stay with Hospice Niagara was brief, the impact it had on her family and their ability to properly say their goodbyes will last a lifetime, said Poulin, who with her father Ron and older sister Tracie all played the role of caregivers near the end of her life.
“It allowed us to just be with her instead,” said Poulin, explaining her mom was in the care of Hospice Niagara for about 24 hours.
Poulin said she was unfamiliar with Hospice Niagara and what it provides until her aunt had a brief stay there before she died.
Poulin’s mom was an office manager at Lamco in Thorold, and also worked at Centre de santé Communautaire in downtown Welland.
Poulin was an avid runner for most of her life but has had to scale down in recent years due to multiple hip surgeries. Competing in a marathon is something that was always on her radar, but she never got the chance due to her injuries.
“It was sort of on my bucket list,” she said.
She will make her way to Port Dalhousie, then to Port Weller and follow the Welland Canal to Merritt Island.
Hospice Niagara in the midst of plans for two new sites — one part of a new long-term-care hub being built at the Foyer Richelieu property, and another within the new Gilmore Lodge site in Fort Erie. Each site will welcome 10 new hospice beds.
Annually, Hospice Niagara sees between 250 and 280 people in its beds at the Stabler Centre, but serves about 3,000 people across the region in the community and at their homes, executive director Carol Nagy said last year at an open house showcasing plans for the new Welland facility.
The Close to Home capital campaign was launched in March 2020 with a target of $18 million to support the projects in Welland and Fort Erie, which are slated to be ready in 2024.
According to Hospice Niagara’s website on Monday, the goal has been 77 per cent achieved.
The Welland site will be called The Walker Centre, following a $1.5-million donation from Walker Industries, while the site in Fort Erie will be called The Willson Centre, the result of donation of the same amount from Willson International, a local customs brokerage.