To fundraise 9.5M to bring our palliative care services to the next level through:

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I’ve been a Palliative Care physician for over 31 years.  The vision towards providing a new setting of care for people who were landing in our local hospital at end of life when this was not their wish, was something I observed since establishing the Niagara West Palliative Care team here in 1997.  I’ve been kept busy helping that vision of a new setting of care come to fruition. And then, after years of our citizens meeting on planning, there was all the work of the first many years of initial operation of a new entity like McNally that kept me busy and fully engaged! 

These days, what keeps me engaged is participating in the knowledge translation of it all.  We are helping ‘upskill’ and improve the death literacy of our society through the volunteers and the community engagement that happens via McNally House.  We are growing palliative care capacity amongst our medical, nursing and other staff and we are just now starting to realize that the next step is not just community engagement but true community development.  All of the possibilities around this continued to keep me engaged!

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I was introduced to McNally House when it was still a ‘twinkle in the eye’ of my good friend Denise Marshall.  What began as a willingness to contribute something worthwhile to my community became an unforgettable two-year period in which I became fully immersed in the construction project. 

Starting out, I had a basic knowledge around hospice care but didn’t fully appreciate the magnitude of what we were creating.  It was when residents began arriving that I saw how profoundly lives could be touched.  I never failed to be amazed by the infinite care and compassion extended to people living out their final days and the lengths that staff would go to make the experience of dying as gentle and good as possible. 

The tearful hugs of grateful family members that I still encounter on occasion remind me of what McNally House means to people.  I never thought I would be part of something so fulfilling again in my life.  Needless to say, championing the Life in Every Moment Campaign is an opportunity I am thrilled to embrace.”  

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When I was approached by Denise Marshall to help plot a course to bring a hospice residence to Niagara West in 2005, I agreed without hesitation.  From my 8+ years serving as the Member of Parliament representing the people of our area, I was very familiar with Dr. Marshall’s outstanding credentials in palliative care medicine.  Her boundless commitment was an inspiration to all of us on board in those early stages.

It’s been incredibly rewarding to have been part of McNally House.  What our communities accomplished together touches lives in a way that is so very personal and intimate . . . ‘being there’ for people in their most desperate hours of need.  And now, on the cusp of McNally’s next chapter, I’m proud and excited to see what the future holds.

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We cannot recognize the founding contributors to McNally House without posthumously paying tribute to Carole Menzies’ immeasurable dedication as fundraising chair and long-term board member.  Her influence will be carried forward as a guiding light to our new campaign.