For 106 years, the Auxiliary to the University Hospital of Northern BC has supported the hospital through fundraising efforts that began in 1919 with the purchase of a $500 X-ray machine.
Since then, the auxiliary has raised more than $6 million.
Originally known as the “ladies auxiliary,” the group has a long history of community support.
“They were making bed sheets, and during the Depression, the ladies would go out to the community to gather vegetables and things to feed the patients in the hospital and do anything they could to help — and that’s still our focus,” said Lindy Steele, president of the hospital auxiliary board.
“We are a service organization and we do a lot of fundraising,” said Debbie Page, a board member and volunteer.
“All the funds raised go into this hospital,” added Steele.
Page noted the auxiliary’s role in helping build the hospital in its early years. “The ladies auxiliary even started fundraising to build the hospital,” she said.
Today, the auxiliary operates a gift shop in the hospital foyer and a thrift shop at 1655 Nicholson St. Each is run by volunteers, with the exception of two part-time staff members at the gift shop who oversee merchandise orders and maintain the lottery kiosk.
The organization currently has 111 volunteers.
“Most of us are older and most of us have retired,” Steele said.
Page, who has volunteered with the non-profit society since 2017, said her involvement is a tribute to her grandmothers, both of whom volunteered with hospital auxiliaries in their hometowns.
“They were the ones sewing sheets and that sort of thing,” Page said.
Steele, who has volunteered for the past decade, said she joined after her husband passed away.
“I just got my 10-year pin,” she said with a smile. “I needed something to do, and my daughter-in-law, who is a nurse here now, said, ‘Why don’t you join the auxiliary?’ and I did.”
Volunteer opportunities within the auxiliary go beyond the gift and thrift shops.
“We have volunteers that go into the hospital,” Steele said. “We’ve got two volunteers who go to Jubilee Lodge (a long-term care facility) and play bingo with residents every Tuesday morning. We run the information desk at the hospital, and we have a group that goes into the short-stay medical unit on Fridays to work with patients awaiting long-term care placement. One week we do bingo, another week crafts — things like that.”
Volunteers can also contribute by knitting items for babies — including sets, mittens and blankets — or by sewing and quilting goods sold in the gift shop. Other handmade items are distributed to the NICU and maternity wards, with a quilt given to every child in the pediatric unit and a lap blanket for every senior awaiting long-term care placement.
“Our quilters and sewers are major donors,” Steele said.
“They get donations for their projects from places like PG Sewing Centre,” Page added.
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted hospital operations, including the availability of personal protective equipment.
“Everybody who worked in healthcare needed scrub caps and couldn’t get them in town,” Steele said. “So the auxiliary and a bunch of retired emergency workers cut and sewed 2,500 scrub caps — and every healthcare worker got three.”
A quilt currently displayed in the hospital gift shop is being raffled off to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the start of the pandemic. It was made using leftover fabric from those scrub caps.
Outdoor volunteer opportunities are also available, including maintaining gardens and planters in front of the hospital. All the flowers are donated by Van Roode’s Greenhouses.
As for the money raised, Steele emphasized an important point: “Every penny we make — in every store and through whatever we do — goes right back into this hospital, except the money to pay the two gift shop employees.”
“Most recently, we paid for a pediatric defibrillator so that when doctors are operating on children, it monitors their heartbeat and, if anything happens, it alerts the physicians right away and even starts the defibrillation process,” she said. “It’s something we needed desperately, and if it saves one life, it’s worth it.”
The auxiliary regularly sets and meets fundraising targets.
“We’ve got $150,000 designated for the cataract surgery clinic,” Page said.
She also offered a historical perspective.
“It’s been interesting,” she said. “The auxiliary has been an evolving organization. In years gone by, we ran the blood donor clinic. We used to provide staff at the regional clinics. We had flower delivery in the hospital, and when I had my kids, they had carts going through the patient wards selling stuff.”
“Some of that I’d like to get back — like the carts,” Steele added.
Looking at long-term impact, the auxiliary decided during the pandemic to begin supporting second- and third-year healthcare students who want to build careers in northern BC.
Each year, $50,000 is set aside for 12 bursaries and scholarships, ranging from $1,000 to $5,000.
“We offer them at both CNC and UNBC for any student in the medical field in their second or third year, so we know they’re continuing their education,” Steele said.
In addition to the bursary fund, another stream of fundraising comes from the hospital’s library. Donated books and magazines are sorted and delivered to various areas using a cart, with a donation can for contributions — often more than 25 cents when people learn the funds go toward student bursaries. A second donation can is located at the thrift store.
That effort has been remarkably successful, Steele said.
“And now we have four $1,000 bursaries on top of all the rest,” she added with a smile.
There is a long, rich history behind the Auxiliary to UHNBC.
“And we want to keep it going,” Steele said. “All we need is more volunteers. The gift shop is desperate for help, and the commitment is just three hours a week — but some of us do more than that. All the volunteer opportunities are very rewarding.”
For more information, visit www.pgauxiliary.ca.
.png;w=120;h=80;mode=crop)
