Agnes Pratt Home looks for help
Foundation launches new phase of fundraising campaign
When attempting to fundraise for a cause focused on seniors, Paula Shortall says there are extra challenges. “Not because anybody in this room or anybody in our community has any less want for their mother (or) grandmother to be in a comfortable and wonderful environment,” said the chairwoman of the Agnes Pratt Home Foundation, who announced details Wednesday of a new fundraising campaign. “It’s just there’s an assumption that all their needs are looked after.”
In the case of the Agnes Pratt Home — a long-term care facility in St. John’s with 134 beds — the province covers its operating budget, but Shortall said funds made available for capital projects and equipment fall short of the facility’s needs.
“That’s of course one of the biggest challenges that we have in fundraising, the perception that our home would be supported by other health-care foundations and other organizations. However, that’s not the case.”
The foundation is looking for support from public and corporate donors to raise the funds necessary to renovate Fairhaven Place, the protective care unit of Agnes Pratt Home. It takes in residents with cognitive impairments, Alzheimer’s, and dementia, amongst other ailments.
Shortall said the nature of these ailments can prove challenging for caregivers at the facility, and efforts to supervise those residents are complicated by the layout of Fairhaven Place. Staff cannot observe residents from the caregiver’s station if they are in certain parts of the dining area, the lounge, or the outdoor garden.
“So when you go out in the garden area, the beautiful, secure, garden area, but because we can’t see the door from the nursing station, people can’t go out there often, and they would really like to go out there and enjoy the sunshine and the garden area,” said Shortall.
The foundation hopes to raise $300,000 to renovate Fairhaven Place, and those funds will also be used to upgrade its bathing area.
Shawna Delaney-Martin, resident care manager for Fairhaven Place, said residents with dementia have very specific needs and create unique challenges for staff. With advances in medicine, she said such residents are now living longer. She said the number of people with dementia is expected to double by 2050.
“Renovations such as these enables us to meet the increased demands of these types of residents,” said Delaney-Martin. “I think it will do wonders to improve their quality of life.”
Home administrator Annette Morgan said the foundation has been willing to listen to staff about the needs of the facility, adding she is optimistic it will find a way to raise the $300,000.
Already, the foundation has raised over one-third of that total. It raised $110,000 as of Wednesday, $50,000 of which came that day through a donation from the Fry Family Foundation.
The new campaign is the third phase of what the Agnes Pratt Foundation is calling “Change of Face.” Renovations covered through phases one and two involved work on the Stella Burry Unit and Pratt Place at a cost of approximately $500,000.
Ward 2 city Coun. Frank Galgay said efforts to complete the next set of renovations for Agnes Pratt Home are worth supporting. Galgay’s late mother was a resident of the home until she passed away at the age of 93.
“Whenever I walked in the door, I got that feeling of caring on behalf of the staff and it wasn’t just a cold institution,” he said.