Bayshore Home Health charity draw helps local hospices

- Canadians can win opportunity to donate $5,000 to community hospice care -

MISSISSAUGA, ON, April 9 /CNW/ - The click of a mouse and a little luck will be worth $5,000 for a local hospice in a community somewhere in Canada this spring. Bayshore Home Health, Canada's largest provider of home and community health services, today announced the start of its online 2010 Hospice Donation Draw. The company will donate $5,000 to a hospice on behalf of the winner of the draw.

"The Hospice Donation Draw is a great way for people to help the community without reaching into their own pockets," says Mike Krunic, director of marketing for Bayshore Home Health. "We're encouraging everyone - doctors, hospital staff, social workers, discharge planners, other health care professionals and the public - to go online and enter the contest so that the winning hospice can move closer to its fundraising goals."

People can enter by going to www.bayshore.ca. Click on the Hospice Donation Draw graphic and type the password: HOSPICE DRAW. Complete the entry form and then wait for the winner to be announced the week of May 3 on the Bayshore Home Health website. Donation draw entries must be received by Friday, April 30, 2010.

"I can't think of a better charity than a hospice," adds Krunic. "They help people at one of the most difficult times of their life."

According to the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association only 16 per cent of Canadians who die have access to quality end-of-life care services. Too many Canadians die with suffering that could be addressed in a more effective manner.

The 2009 Hospice Donation Draw was won by Irene Thomson of Saint John, New Brunswick and benefitted the Hospice Greater Saint John. The donation helped the hospice reach its goal of opening the first residential hospice centre in Atlantic Canada.

Krunic also urged people to participate in this year's Hike for Hospice that will be held on Sunday, May 2.

About Bayshore Home Health

Bayshore Home Health has been enhancing the quality of life, dignity and independence of Canadians in their homes since 1966. Canadian owned and operated, it is the country's largest provider of home and community health care services, with more than 50 home care offices, 20 community care clinics and 8,000 employees. Its core services are in-home nursing, personal care and home support - which can be purchased directly by individuals and also accessed through government care programs, personal and group insurance plans and workplace safety insurance. The company also provides nurse/caregiver staffing services, health education programs and treatments in its community dialysis centres. Through its subsidiary, Bayshore Specialty Rx, it offers infusion pharmacy, infusion clinic and pharmaceutical support services to a variety of health care and pharmaceutical organizations.

For further information: Mike Krunic, Director of Marketing, Bayshore Home Health, Phone: [phone] Ext. 240, Email: [email protected], www.bayshore.ca