Helping the sick weather the storm

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This article was published 01/11/2014 (4000 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Kenton resident Wilma Bell’s life was buffeted by a cancer diagnosis and the need for treatment in Winnipeg, the last thing she needed was to be hit by a financial storm because of high accommodation costs.

Thankfully, A Port in the Storm was there to help her.

A Port in the Storm is a medical hostel that provides a safe, supportive and affordable home-like environment for patients and their families who live too far outside the city to commute for their treatment.

In 10 years, A Port in the Storm has gone from an idea inspired by a dying cancer patient from rural Manitoba to its current temporary home with 16 rooms in St. Boniface’s Villa Aulneau, the former Missionary Oblate Sisters convent.

Now, it has dreams of gutting and renovating what used to be a residential school next door — the former St. Boniface Normal School — to open its own permanent, stand-alone 40-unit facility.

Think of A Port in the Storm as a Ronald McDonald House for adults, without the clown.

“I stayed there for six weeks in June and July while receiving radiation five days a week,” Bell said.

“I live 3-1/2 hours from Winnipeg, so I was grateful I could stay in such a nice place that was affordable.”

Bell said there’s another reason Port is needed by patients such as herself.

“If people don’t have to worry about the cost of accommodation, the travel and the bills, they’ll be able to get well faster,” she said.

Stacey Grocholski, Port’s executive director, said since opening their doors in October 2012, they have already logged more than 400 stays by people who otherwise would have had to find a hotel room or rent an apartment while undergoing lengthy treatment.

Grocholski said cancer patients are the highest users of the facility, followed by cardiac patients. Most come from across Manitoba, but a large percentage comes from northwestern Ontario.

Dr. David Szwajcer, CancerCare Manitoba’s director of leukemia and bone marrow transplants, said he appreciates Port, because about 30 to 40 per cent of the patients he sees live outside Winnipeg.

“Having this residence in Winnipeg is of significant benefit to these patients,” Szwajcer said.

“Many people who require long courses of chemotherapy and radiation need treatment for half a year or longer… much of our care is in an ambulatory setting now.

“It’s very nice to have a place for patients to stay where their families can stay as well. It provides them with a safe place. They can also maintain a certain amount of independence that is cost-effective.”

Szwajcer said another benefit for patients who stay at Port is they meet other patients.

“They are there for a fair bit of time, so peer-to-peer support begins to build up,” he said.

Grocholski said it costs $45 a night to stay with Port, with the remainder of the costs subsidized through Port’s donations and fundraising.

“When you don’t live in Winnipeg, there’s a huge financial burden when people drive from outside town. There’s gas. There’s accommodation. And not all chemotherapy drugs are covered by the province — some are $1,000 a month.

“And while you are here, all the costs are still on at home. We get a call once a week from social workers who have a family who has no money.”

Grocholski said in addition to the $15-million House of Hope capital campaign they have launched to raise money to build the new facility, they also have an endowment fund to help pay the costs for those who can’t afford Port’s subsidized cost.

During a brief tour of a suite, Grocholski showed that unlike a hotel room, Port’s rooms are suites with a partial kitchen, an accessible bathroom and room to comfortably fit four individuals on the bed and foldout futon. There is a laundry room down the hall, and, if the person doesn’t want to cook, they can go to Villa Aulneau’s cafeteria.

“It’s basic, but it’s all you need,” she said. “These are people who have to be close to the hospital. They can’t be at their home. This is as close as we can get to being at home. We ask the client to take ownership as well and treat it like it’s their home.”

Grocholski said after a patient checks out, the rooms are sanitized and cleaned before the next person checks in.

Grocholski said it has been a great partnership between Port and Villa Aulneau.

“They needed to fill rooms, and we needed rooms,” she said. “Their mandate is to help those in need — it’s a great fit for them and us.”

Grocholski said Port needs a new facility because they are running at about 90 per cent capacity.

“We turn away a lot of people because of our long-term residents,” she said. “One person has been with us for more than a year.”

Grocholski said there’s another difference between Port’s clients and the ones who use Ronald McDonald Houses.

“We have the sick person here, where Ronald McDonald Houses support the family, and the sick child is usually in the hospital,” she said.

Joanne Loughery, a co-founder of Port, said she was working at CancerCare in oncology when she met a young single mother from rural Manitoba who was forced to rent expensive apartments, away from her family, while she sought treatment that ultimately proved unsuccessful.

The woman’s dying wish, which is recounted in Port’s brochures, was: “The worst part of my cancer experience was staying in that expensive apartment all alone. If I had one wish, it would be to have a house built for people like me, my house of hope.”

Since then, Loughery and others have spent a decade getting proposals together, looking for a property, trying to get government funding and raising donations before opening the suites in Villa Aulneau.

“I just thought her story is unique to her, but not unique to the problem,” Loughery said.

“We are really excited now to have the opportunity to demonstrate how needed we are. We are demonstrating over and over how big the need is. It’s an awareness piece. The more people know about us and what we are doing, the more people say this is a no-brainer.

“This is exactly what I hoped for 10 years ago.”

Loughery said Port will be needed even more in the future because of estimated increases in cancer and cardiac patients.

Bell said she hopes she never has to pass through the doors of Port again, but she’s glad it’s there for her and others in need.

“It serves a really good purpose,” she said. “It was just like home.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca