GoodHearts in 2012 - A Recap

As we begin a new year it is a good time to reflect back on the past year.  Here is a quick list of some the changes, challenges and accomplishments of 2012:

Directors Silvio and Maggie at our AGM

Board of Directors

• Linda Figgures, Sister Patricia and Ron Kube retired from the board. We thank them for their many hours and hours of service to our organization.
• Returning board members were Silvio Dobri, Jenn Card and Jackie Foord.
• Maggie Baczynski, Barb Foxall, Josh Eberhart and Helen Klimo joined our board.
• We said goodbye to board member and dear friend Kevin Fankhanel who passed away this year.

Events

One of our suites at the Galan Lofts

• AGM - Our Annual General Meeting was held in September. Our president Jackie summarized what the GoodHearts had been up to in 2012 and Jeff Simpson presented on insurance to the membership.  Visit our Facebook page for photos of the event or to view Jeff's insurance presentation.
• GoodHearts Dinner - Our annual dinner was held in October at the Mayfield Inn and was a great success. At the dinner the first Modry Bursary was presented to Ashley Peregrym, testimonials were read from Liz & Bob and Faith, and a presentation was given explaining our transplant housing at the Galen Lofts. Visit our Facebook page to view photos of the dinner or to view the Transplant Housing at the Galen Lofts presentation.

GoodHearts Online

• We continued publishing our newsletter.  Visit our Newsletter Archive to read newsletter from 2012 and past years.
• We started this blog in September as well as creating a Facebook page and twitter account.

Thanks for your attention and support this year! Here's to a productive 2013.

2012 GoodHearts Dinner - Recap

2012 GoodHearts Dinner - Visit our Facebook page
for more photographs of the evening.

We held our 2012 GoodHearts Dinner this past Saturday on October 13, 2012 at the Mayfield Inn. Thank you to all the GoodHearts members, friends and family who were able to join us for the dinner. It was a great success and we could not have done it without you.

Our president, Jackie Foord, was Master of Ceremonies for the evening and presented on a number of items. She introduced current board members present for the evening (Silvio Dobri, Maggie Baczynski, Jenn Card, and Helen Klimo), current board members unable to be there (Barb Foxall and Josh Eberhart) and past board members present (Linda Figgures, Sister Patricia and Ron Kube). As well, a moment of silence was held for Kevin Fankhanel, a board member whom we lost this year.

Jackie gave the following quick summary regarding what GoodHearts has been up to this year:

GoodHearts has been busy the past year.  We continue to supply food and gas vouchers for those in need in the various transplant programs.  We also provide Medic Alert bracelets for those who have had a transplant.  However this year we have shifted our efforts substantially to focus on providing subsidized short-term housing for people living with transplants.  Most of us in this room know that there are times when transplant patients need to be in or very close to the university hospital.  Sometimes it is for regular treatments; sometimes it’s an unpredicted complication.  For those who do not live in Edmonton, there aren’t many affordable options for longer term stays. That’s where GoodHearts comes in.

In July 2011 we rented a single condominium on the south side.  We subleased the condo to transplant recipients and their caregivers.  GoodHearts pays the full rent and in turn we charge our tenants a lower rental rate.  When the lease on the condo ended in July of this year, we began renting two apartments at the Galen Lofts. Both were occupied the first day.

See the entire presentation on
our Facebook page.

A slide show presentation entitled "GoodHearts Housing at the Galen Lofts" was shown at the dinner summarizing the GoodHearts Transplant Housing program at Galen Lofts with photos of the suites. Please visit our Facebook page to view the entire presentation or visit the Galen Lofts website for more information on the building and rental opportunities.

Other highlights included board member Maggie Baczynski presenting the first ever recipient of the Dr. Dennis Modry Bursary to Ashley Peregrym, a nursing student at the University of Alberta and board member Jenn Card reading two testimonials from patients who had stayed in the GoodHearts transplant housing.  Read more about the Dr. Dennis Modry Bursary and Ashley, the testimonial from Liz & Bob or the testimonial from Faith.

Please visit our Facebook page to view more photos of the event in the 2012 GoodHearts Dinner Photo Album.

2012 AGM Recap

Thanks to our volunteers (L to R) Heather, Fran and
Shirley for manning our registration table

We held our Annual General Meeting this past Saturday on September 8, 2012 at the Mayfield Inn. Thanks to all the GoodHearts members who were able to join us for the breakfast meeting and presentation.

Our president, Jackie Foord, chaired the meeting and presented her Annual Report which highlighted what GoodHearts has been up to in the past year, including a summary of our Transplant Housing and other programs. Watch for an upcoming post featuring a more detailed summary of the Annual Report.

Our new Board of Directors was elected and introduced to the members.  The board is comprised of returning members Silvio, Jackie, Jenn, Maggie, Barb and Josh, along with new member Helene. In the coming months the directors will be introducing themselves to you.

Speaker Jeff Simpson presenting to the group

Our speaker for the morning was Jeff Simpson of the Simpson Group Insurance Services Inc. Jeff has 21 years of experience in the travel medical and health insurance. He works with insurance providers offering basic through complex medically underwritten insurance plans. He spoke about concerns transplant patients have with obtaining good travel insurance, the different types of insurance available and the best ways for transplant patients to secure coverage. His presentation was popular with our members so we have invited Jeff to do a guest blog in the next few weeks, and present more information on this topic.

Please visit our Facebook page to view a few photos of the event in the 2012 AGM Photo Album.