History of the West Kootenay Living Well Society

	The West Kootenay Living Well Cancer Support Group	Support and education for cancer patients, their families, and caregivers.
	History of the West Kootenay Living Well Society
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"In the midst of my darkness I found the sun within myself" Albert Camus

	From Sept. 7, 2004 to June 23, 2009
	• First meeting – called by Dorothy Brown, Cancer Navigator Sept. 7, 2004 • Met at Broader Horizons with 22 members – Sept. 30 • Name was Cancer Resource and Support Centre on Nov. 13, there were 6 members in Jan 13, 2005 and they planned a model and mission statement. • The March 31 meeting had 6 members and they discussed having a public Panel Discussion. • At the April 8 meeting the name became The Living Well Resource and Support Centre for Cancer Patients and their Families. There were 8 members. • The members conducted a public survey and in June 29, had 120 forms returned, the results were summarized and analyzed and showed a need for this project. • The Survey committee met each week in July to write a summery of the survey. • In Aug and Sept the members planned the Public Panel Discussion • The Panel Discussion was held at the Hume room of the Hume hotel on Oct. 6 with the topic “What is Cancer.” The moderator was Jonathan Taylor who filled in at the last minute for David Glass who had cancer of the throat. The speakers were Dr. Ken Kunz, MD, Oncologist, Dr. Michael Smith, Chinese Medicine, Dr. Loren Kozak, Naturopathic doctor, David MacKenzie, Medical Intuitive, Wini Baur, cancer patient and Dorothy Brown, Cancer Navigator. There were 220 in attendance. In Sept. the Survey Committee sent a news release to the Nelson Daily News stating a strong recommendation for the Resource and Support Centre. • The Oct. 12 meeting had 6 members and the chair was Dorothy Brown • Kerry Rakuson was the chair on Oct. 26 with 8 members and they decided to have another public panel discussion. • The second panel discussion was held on Jan 26 2006 at the Best Western Hotel with moderator Kerry Rakuson. The topic was “Breaking all the Rules of Cancer.” The panel members were Dr. Ken Kunz MD Medical Oncologist, Dr. Michael Smith Chinese Medicine, Dave Scalon, Social Worker, Dr. Brenda Gil, Naturopathic Dr. Marla Hamann, Pharmacist, Hayley Ehnes, Registered Dietician. There were about 150 in attendance. It was very well organized with radio, TV and press coverage. • The next meeting was held on Feb. 2 at the Nelson and District Community Complex with 10 members. The chair was Kerry Rakuson • At the April 4 meeting the Planning Committee gave a report on renting space at the Community Health First Co-op building for $330.00 per month. • The April 6 meeting was held at the Selkirk College room 315 with 12 present. Dr. Kunz gave a presentation on breast cancer. There was a motion to give the community Health First Co-op a letter of intent to rent this room. • At the May 4 meeting with 11 in attendance the Planning Committee reported that 6 months was too short a time to raise the $45,490.00 needed, so a motion was passed to rescind the letter of intent • The next meeting was on Oct. 12 at Nelson & District Community Centre with 8 in attendance. The chair was Kerry Rakuson. • There were 4 in attendance at the Nov 9 meeting and Kerry Rakuson had to resign because of job commitments. • The next meeting was held on Feb. 8 2007 at the home of Peggy Cosgrove with 4 in attendance. Peggy resigned and the other 3 decided to stay. Peggy stated that there was a need for a concise business plan if we were to continue. • The next meeting was held on March 6 at the home of Leah McFadyen with Dorothy Brown in the chair and 9 present. The name became the West Kootenay Living Well Society and a Radio Show Committee of Dorothy Brown, Muni Fluss and Pamala Graham was formed. A proposal of 15 pages was submitted to Kootenay Co-op Radio. The proposal was named “The Big C Word: Demystifying Cancer” • A committee of Leah McFadyen and Anne Farrell Webb found free space to meet at The Seniors Coordinating Society. The first meeting there had 6 in attendance with Dorothy Brown in the chair. Leah McFadyen resigned as Treasurer and Muni Fluss agreed to be Treasurer. • On March 24, Anne Farrell Webb attended a Grant Writing Workshop given by the Osprey Foundation and reported her findings at the following meeting. • On April 3 the radio show committee reported that their proposal was accepted and were starting 5 to 6 hours of training. Marilyn McCombe was trained as their tech. During the rest of April the members worked on the logo and the wording of the brochure. • On May 8, the first radio show aired and was rebroadcasted the following week. • On June 12, there were 7 members in attendance and Muni Fluss reported visiting Inspire Health and that they were willing to support us and just asked that we let them know how. One idea was to be a satellite of Inspire Health. • At the July 10 meeting a report was given regarding teleconferencing with Inspire Health by Paul Erickson who spoke with Lionel. • The treasurer reported that the funds were moved from the Royal bank to the Nelson Credit Union.	• At the Aug 7 meeting, the radio show committee reported doing two programs of German New Medicine. A resource book was started which listed all the practitioners and each was asked to do a short write up on their services and how they could be of use to those dealing with cancer. Dorothy collected the submissions and agreed to place them in a binder. • An article with a picture of the radio committee with a contact phone number at the end was placed in the local papers. • The next meeting was Feb 5 2008 with 6 in attendance and no chairperson as Dorothy wished to step down. Most of the members were discouraged that they had no received any phone calls after the radio show and no one replied to the article. There is a need for more members • At the March 18 meeting with 8 in attendance guest Joan Reichardt offered to help with fund raising and offered a phone line which would ring on their line. There was a charge of $100.00 per month for this line, and would include the services of their secretary. • Jim Quigley was the chairperson for the April 15 meeting with 7 members in attendance. The library committee listed all the books and stamped them with our name. • The pamphlet was sent out to be copied and included a logo on the front designed by Marilyn McCombe. Dorothy Brown announced she was resigning because there were not enough members and she felt there should be professional leaders for group sessions, but said she would offer training to members on speaking to those who will phone. • On April 22, a letter was sent to Joan Reichardt requesting that the phone line would start on Sept. 1. An email form Dorothy Brown included the following ideas. To focus energy on educating and alerting the community to the need for this service based on research and focus energy on presentations to the Medical, Alternative Healing, Christian and other Spiritual communities, the Hospitals, Community Care Nurses the Canadian Cancer Society and the Dragon Boat Team. • On July 18 there were 5 members present. All signed a liability form. • On Sept. 2 Dorothy Brown gave training to all the members present and two members discussed offering classes. • At the July 31 meeting the members were given the phone number as 250-352-1935 and it is listed under Living Well Society if anyone calls 411. This number was placed on the pamphlet and 1000 copies were ordered from McLaughlins Stationary store. The Society was given the vibrating chair for the use of cancer patients. • Pamala Graham reported receiving 2 calls and Leah McFadyen reported she had distributed 450 copies of the pamphlet around town. • At the Sept. 30 meeting chaired by Jim Quigley, it was reported that the local Cancer office was closed and the contact person is Alice Strand at 352-6223 • There were 4 members at the Oct. 29 meeting. There is a need for a permanent note book to record calls to list the name, phone number and type of cancer, the problem and solution and follow up. Four members had a meeting with the Cancer Team at the hospital held in room 412. In attendance were Cheryl Hicks, chemo nurse – 352 – 3111, Dave Scanlon, counselor at the hospital in the mornings and at Mental Health in the afternoon at 250-505-7248, Pharmacist Liz Edwards and Nutritionist Marlene Chernenkoff, plus a 3rd yr. nursing student. • At the Dec 9 meeting with 5 members and new members Karen Hornby and Linda Rutherglen, another 1000 pamphlets were ordered and it was suggested going to the Medical clinics to speak to the receptionist and the doctors and speaking a meeting of the registered nurses of B.C. and to contact Monica Carpendale of the Kootenay Art Therapy group. • There were 6 members at the Jan 13 2009 meeting. • There were 4 members at the Feb. 17 meeting. A thank you card was signed for Dave Scanlon who donated a book for the library. It was decided to discuss promotion at the next meeting when more members are present. There were two more calls on the phone line. • There were 5 members at the Mar. 24 meeting and at this meeting the chair Jim Quigley wondered if there was a need in the community for our centre. There was • a discussion on what has been done, article in paper, radio show, meeting at the hospital and distribution of the pamphlets. Response has been slow. • There were 4 members present at the June 2nd meeting. Three of the members have decided to leave for now and felt they had done the best they could. The secretary will contact the absent members to ask if they wish to continue and contact others who would be interested. • At the June 23rd meeting, Anne Farrell Webb was acting chair. There were 6 in attendance including former member Marilyn McCombe who offered to be on call for those wanting her help, and Barbara Gosney, a Homeopathic practitioner who left brochures and booklets for the library. Two letters of support were read, one from The Seniors Coordinating Society and one from The Unity Centre of the Kootenays, by members of each organization. It was reported that the Seniors Coordinating Society is offering the Society the purchase of a cell phone and Helen V. is going to design a web page for the Society at no charge. It was decided to have future meetings on the second Saturday of the month at 10:00 a.m. so that those who work during the week may attend. The next meeting is on Saturday July 11 at 10:00 a.m. at the Seniors Coordinating Society, 719 Vernon St.
	for more information, please call 250.551.1785
We Provide \| Our Purpose \| Uniquely Ours \| History \| Resources \| Site Map Up to Top

The West Kootenay Living Well Cancer Support Group

for more information, please call 250.551.1785