The birth of Lisa Dear’s first child, this past spring, was life changing in more ways than one.
Zacharias was born six weeks premature.
The Creston mother had an emergency c-section and soon after both she and her newborn were rushed to Kelowna General Hospital.
That’s where Zacharias ended up living for the next 35 days.
However, Lisa was discharged after just two days, leaving her with nowhere to stay.
“I was so scared. I didn’t know where I was going to go,” said Lisa.
It’s families like the Dears who will benefit from a new Variety The Children’s Charity fund.
It’s aimed at helping families who’ve had to travel from out of town to get treatment for their sick children.
Only 13 B.C. hospitals have access to the money and Kelowna General Hospital is one of them.
The program called Variety Cares came into effect last month.
Read More: Variety Week on Global BC: Day 5
Similar funding has been available for years through Variety. However, the difference is in how the money is accessed.
“It was a process of applying for an emergency grant. Which would sometimes take 24 to 48 hours,” explained Carolyn Turner a social worker at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
Now hospital social workers have direct and immediate access to funding to help patients and families in need.
Each of the 13 B.C. hospitals that get the funding have pediatric trauma or neonatal ICU designations.
– with files from Jennifer Okrusko
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