Super Saturday Secondhand Sale
to raise funds for new hospice room
PRESQUE ISLE — As renovation work to create a special hospice patient room on the medical/surgical unit at TAMC nears completion, the nurses and other staff members working on the floor, who were the catalyst for the project, are again rallying in support of the effort and asking the Aroostook County community for help.
Photo courtesy of TAMC
TAMC EMPLOYEES Cindy Deschaine, left, secretary for the medical/surgical unit, and Lauri Ryan-D’Aquino, RN, a nurse on the same unit, check out the progress on the renovations for a new hospice room on their floor. The two are organizing the Super Saturday Secondhand Sale to raise funds to help pay for furnishings for the room, which is being created through the efforts of the medical/surgical staff.
For the second consecutive year, TAMC employees are planning a huge yard sale to support the new hospice room at the A.R. Gould Memorial Hospital. The Super Saturday Secondhand Sale will be held Saturday, Aug. 23 in the parking lot at TAMC’s North Street Healthcare facility from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Organizers are currently collecting items from fellow TAMC employees, family and community members that will be sold at the event.
The fundraiser will help provide added comfort to patients and their families at the hospital. Proceeds last year went toward the now nearly completed renovation of an existing patient room into a hospice room in an effort to provide patients with an extended stay and others requiring end-of-life treatment a more home-like environment. Proceeds from this year’s sale will help furnish the room and provide for the ongoing purchase of comfort items for patients and their families.
The idea for the room and fund-raising effort to help make it happen were developed by the staff on the unit who were personally touched caring for patients. The concept was born in the spring of 2013 after the passing of two younger patients. The nurses and staff within the unit at TAMC decided they wanted to do more to ensure that those of all ages receive the best and most stress-free care they can provide.
“We wanted to create a warm, homey atmosphere for patients and their loved ones,” said Cindy Deschaine, secretary for the medical/surgical unit and one of the staff leading the effort. “We are excited to make this project happen for our community, and this sale is a fun way for us to raise funds to help with the cause. People can come shop for some bargains and know that the funds will be well used to help provide comfort for patients who are nearing the end of life.”
TAMC’s medical/surgical unit is the place at the hospital where patients come to receive end-of-life care, often after being diagnosed with a terminal illness. The team members working on the unit aid patients and their families during the transition.
According to Deschaine, the hospice room enhancements will allow for family members to feel more at home with their loved one in a more personalized space giving them the chance to create a few more lasting memories within a home-away-from-home environment.
Among the items that will be included in the hospice room are several amenities of home such as a refrigerator, flat screen television, music, microwave, bedding, coffee pot, low lighting, movies, reading and writing materials, a place for photo display, comfortable sleeping, as well as access to technology such as Skype in order to ensure those family members that are unable to visit in person still have the opportunity to spend time with the patient from afar.
Deschaine encourages community members who have items that they no longer use and would like to donate to the sale to contact her. Items can be dropped off at North Street at a pre-arranged day and time, or arrangements can be made for pick up for larger items.
For more information about the Super Saturday Secondhand Sale, including how to donate items, call 768-4321 or email cdeschaine@tamc.org.
