“On the twelfth day of giving, my law firm gave to me,
helping a hospice.”
Ian Anderson House
For our twelfth and final day of giving, we are proud to be donating to the Ian Anderson House, an in-resident cancer hospice located in Oakville.
We have made it to the end of our twelve days of giving initiative, and we want to thank all of those who have followed along with us to learn about some worthwhile charities as well as why they are important to our staff. Up to this point, we have heard about many great causes working to help save lives or make things better for the future. The Ian Anderson House is a little different, because families who end up there are unfortunately faced with the impending loss of a loved one.
The hospice was established in 1997 after seven years of planning and lobbying by its founders, Margaret and Stuart Anderson. Named after Margaret’s husband and Stuart’s father, the Ian Anderson house was the first in-resident hospice for quality end-of-life palliative care for cancer patients. There were many difficult obstacles that the Anderson’s faced, including a lack of understanding by politicians, bureaucrats, and medical professionals concerning hospice philosophy and the services they provide to the terminally ill. Also, funding and education for palliative end-of-life care was almost totally ignored by governments and the medical field.
Margaret and Stuart were solely responsible for caring for Ian in his final days as he passed away at their home from colon cancer at the age of 59. The emotional and physical stress, feeling of isolation and fear, and general sense of uncertainty was the motivating factor that pushed Margaret to create a residence that provided support and care for families going through the same experience. There are now more than 24 in-resident hospices have been built in Ontario since Margaret started on her journey to educate social and medical policymakers and change the attitudes towards caring for the dying among physicians, legislators, media and the public.
The Ian Anderson House has been selected by our Operations & Business Development Manager, Chad Blundy, as our final charity. In January 2014, Chad and his family suffered a significant event when his father lost his own battle with colon cancer. His final days were spent at IAH, and words cannot express the gratitude that Chad’s family has for the facility’s medical staff and volunteers. The compassion, care, respect, and dignity that was provided certainly helped ease what was a difficult and gut-wrenching experience. The fact that IAH provides its services completely free-of-charge to six patients at a time, and grants families full access to the entire house at all hours of the day is a tremendously selfless operation. In Chad’s own words, “While I wish that no one ever has to go through what I did, where I had to watch a key person in my life slowly lose the fight to a disease and be helpless to stop it, I know that this is not possible. The work that Ian Anderson House does to help bring comfort to those who are terminally ill as well as their loved ones cannot be easy, but it is important and needs to continue. I am proud to include them in our inaugural 12 days of giving.”
For more information or to make a donation, please see below: