After a long hospital stay at Langley Memorial Hospital, a local elderly woman faced an uncertain future as she returned home. Her husband had passed away while she was in hospital, and without nearby family or friends, she was returning to an empty home.
Recognizing the challenge, the hospital’s social work team quickly tapped into resources from the Whatever It Takes Fund to help pay for the woman’s private home care, grocery shopping assistance and home cleaning.
This seemingly small gesture made an immediate and tangible impact on the woman’s life, letting her maintain her health and nutrition while she regained strength at home. Donor generosity made it happen.
A decade of generosity
Launched in 2013 by the Langley Memorial’s Social Work team, the Whatever It Takes Fund (WIT) helps cover expenses for patients leaving the hospital for home – often vulnerable residents, including seniors, new Canadians, lower-income people and those lacking the family or social networks most of us rely on after a health crisis.
That support is only possible because of the community’s donations. Last year, generous donors gave $37,765 to make a tangible, immediate impact on the lives of numerous people transitioning between hospital and home.
For a low-income older man with no family help on the day he left hospital, the fund provided for a few hot meals until his daughter could help. Another who lived in a long-term care residence struggled with his mobility after a stay at Langley Memorial. The WIT Fund helped purchase footwear to assist his stability and movement.
And it’s not only older residents who benefit.
The social work team also helped two new mothers from Ukraine, purchasing a car seat for one, and a breast pump for another. Many other new mothers also received baby bags full of outfits, diapers and blankets.
Resources provide patients with help to clean their homes, buy groceries, organize medications or arrange appointments – all practical everyday chores that help them regain their independence.
Support your Langley neighbours in need today
Without the community’s generosity, none of these supports would have been possible and many seniors, new mothers and vulnerable low-income residents would have suffered from discomfort, hunger and pain after a hospital stay. The result: a far greater chance they’d be re-admitted to hospital.
To support the Whatever It Takes Fund here in Langley, visit lmhfoundation.com/donate
