Donald Teuma-Castelletti
CLARENDON Sept. 22, 2018
A multi-Juno winner and Canadian Country Music Hall of Famer rocked the Little Red Wagon Winery on Saturday night, playing a show in support of the Shawville hospital.
The Keith Glass Band, featuring Keith Glass of Prairie Oyster fame, put on their high-energy show at the Clarendon winery, raising over $2,000 for the Pontiac Community Hospital Foundation.
“Well, it began as my way of trying to help out my friend, Marilee [DeLombard],” said Glass, of performing in support of the foundation. “She graciously [asked we support] the hospital out of gratitude for the services she’s received there.”
DeLombard, one of the concert organizers, has also been a patient at the Shawville hospital, receiving care from the day medicine department. She described the fortune of having a hospital with day medicine services as a valuable resource to patients, saving them time while undergoing tough portions of their lives.
“The undertaking was a six-month stint of every two weeks, so it’s a two-hour drive to Gatineau and a two hour drive back, or it’s 20 minutes to Shawville,” said DeLombard. “It made a big difference.”
Linda Rooney, a registered nurse clinician who works in day medicine, said being able to offer Pontiac patients the services they need, whether it be chemotherapy, a blood transfusion, and more, in their own community is crucial to offering that extra level of comfort and accessibility.
“It’s a diverse unit, so we have IV, intravenous, and antibiotics,” said Rooney, of the different services available. “We also do chemotherapy there, blood transfusions, we do dressings, injections, basically any kind of cancer care treatment that’s required.”
She explained that day medicine includes treatments that require the services of the nurses for a few hours, but not the need to stay in the hospital for longer than that. On average, Rooney said, she sees 10 to 17 patients in a day for such services.
“A lot of people say they’re very appreciative because they don’t have to travel to Gatineau for their treatments,” said Rooney.
“I think, for the patients that attend our day medicine, especially oncology patients … they like the home-style approach we have because we’re a very small hospital, we’re very personal” she continued. “We treat our patients like they’re a patient, not a number.”
Attendees to the show Saturday evening included patients, their families, hospital workers and more, as they enjoyed all the winery had to offer while taking in originals and covers performed by the Keith Glass Band.
“On a personal note, I love the Pontiac and, also, I’m always in favour of supporting small-town hospitals, wherever they are,” said Glass. “I realize how important they are to their communities and that they usually work with stretched budgets.”
“I hope that what happened on Saturday night was in some small measure helpful,” he continued.
