Registered Sunrise Health Region volunteers who work in the Kamsack area were honoured during a reception in the Kamsack nursing home April 28.
About 50 persons attended the afternoon reception which included words of appreciation from Sunrise staff members, entertainment and refreshments under a banner saying: “Volunteers are the roots of strong communities.”
The program began with a welcome to “the dedicated hearts of the Sunrise Health Region that are gathered here today” from Karen Rubletz, the recreation co-ordinator at the nursing home.
“It makes us feel good that we have a day designated to recognize the significance of your contributions,” Rubletz said. “Despite the many different kinds of people and personalities that come to our home, we still share a common thread that binds us together like roots that grow into a mutual goal of bettering our community, our facility and lives of our residents.
“Volunteers are inspired people who look for an opportunity to be involved in something that interests them and feel a passion for. And if that doesn’t exist, they have initiative to try and create it.
“Hopefully, your contributions are an enjoyable experience with opportunity to laugh and feel satisfaction,” she said. “We all benefit from positive energy seen in the faces of those you have helped in various ways.”
Rubletz said that she and fellow activity staff members Patty Witzko and Marianne Francis, were honoured to host the event.
“Today is our chance to honour and thank you for all you have done for us,” said Marion Matechuk, the nursing manager and assistant health services manager. “On behalf of the Kamsack Hospital and Nursing Home staff, clients and residents, a special thanks for all you do for us.
“We may not always thank you or acknowledge your contributions on a day-to-day basis, so this is why we are here this afternoon,” Matechuk said. “We wish to recognize your time, effort, commitment and dedication to our facility.”
Matechuk acknowledged the auxiliaries to the hospital and nursing home “who provide continued support and work very hard at providing the funding that enhances the quality care environment for our residents and clients of this community and surrounding areas.”
She mentioned the church groups and clergy “who assist in the spiritual needs and care,” the various entertainment groups who “add music, songs, laughter, and enjoyment to our days,” and all the individual volunteers who assist our recreation staff in providing the one-on-one attention to our residents.
“These activities brighten their days and enhance their well-being,” she said. “It is clear that some of the greatest contributions are made by volunteers who choose to go beyond what is expected and instead give what is needed, therefore providing a positive impact on many people in many ways.”
Suzette Szumutku of Yorkton, the director of volunteer resources admitted to having used the Internet to seek out information on the importance of those roots and relayed the comparison of roots of a plant to volunteers. She also read a short essay by humourist Erma Bombeck which dealt with volunteers but did not utilize Bombeck’s usual humour.
“It’s easy to talk and think about volunteers and communities; so easy to take them for granted,” Szumutku said. “We can see and hear all kinds of stories about volunteerism and the difference they make in their communities, but they’ve always been there. We’ve never been without.
“Perhaps it wasn’t as formalized, maybe it wasn’t even called volunteerism, but it’s always been there,” she said. “The very word was initially a military word, a ‘volunteer’ military. But that led to mothers and grandmothers who knitted socks and mitts and packed care packages. There were threshing gangs and barn raisings, and the word ‘volunteer’ took on a whole new meaning.
“Today, it’s the minor hockey parents who run canteens and raffles, the church groups that welcome immigrants, the Kindergarten parent who takes his or her rotation, and yes, it’s baby rockers and smiling hosts at doors and meals-on-wheels deliveries.
“And it’s also groups like Doctors Without Borders overseas and the Red Cross at disasters throughout the world, many of whom have been (at risk) and will continue to risk their lives as they strive to build those strong communities.
“Erma Bombeck painted a picture of a community, just like this one, without those roots, and I realized I can’t even imagine it. I suspect it’s pretty difficult for anyone else to imagine it either.
“There’s a joke that says: ‘The best way to garden is to put on a wide-brimmed straw hat and some old clothes, and with a hoe in one hand and a cold drink in the other, tell somebody else where to dig.’
“But that’s not the kind of strong communities we’re talking about here. Volunteers aren’t standing there, telling someone else what to do or how to do it. They put on the straw hats and old clothes, grab their tools and get to work.
“You do indeed create incredibly strong communities,” Szumutku said. “And you’ve created one in our health region where you make a vibrant difference.
“This is our chance to say ‘thank you’ for that.
“Volunteers are our assurance of a ‘decent civilization.’ I can only hope and pray that we will provide you with enough positive ‘atmospheric conditions’ to allow you to continue to grow and spread, and to give off a few ‘new shoots.’
“Never stop doing little things for others,” she said. “Sometimes those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts.”
The afternoon included the recitation of poems, the singing of a song by Colleen Kazakoff of Kamsack, a few jokes, a couple games, a draw for prizes and a buffet of hors d’oeuvres, tea, coffee and juice.
Rubletz thanked Francis for the decorations which included table decorations and a tree with roots and leaves that displayed the names of volunteers.
It was said that on May 18, an amount from each litre of fuel sold at the Co-op C-store in Kamsack will be donated to the nursing home’s project of constructing a new patio, and an invitation was extended for everyone to attend the nursing home tea, bake sale and raffle on June 4.
“We’re thankful to be living in a community which keeps the elderly high up on its priority list,” Rubletz said.
