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Saanich Peninsula 100+ Women Who Care donate $17,000 for centre serving seniors

Mount Newton Centre programs support seniors, caregivers
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Members of the 100 Women Who Care Saanich Peninsula donated $17,000 to the Mount Newton Centre Society that will enable the non-profit to upgrade its facilities. (Contributed/Brenda Harfield)

A community is only as good as the people who care to give back to it.

And on the Peninsula, that community can sometimes be an older one with specific needs, as Brenda Harfield recently experienced when her late husband lost his battle with Alzheimer’s disease early in the New Year.

Through the Mount Newton Centre Society, the Harfields sought the benefits of an adult day program for participants and their caregivers.

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“Quietly, almost under the radar, Mount Newton Centre has been providing services to area seniors and their families who daily struggle with the effects of a range of debilitating diseases,” Harfield said.

And now, with a $17,000 donation from 100+ Women Who Care on the Saanich Peninsula – a group dedicated to supporting community causes – the Centre will be able to undergo some upgrades and provide maintenance to its facility.

Founded in 1978 with a one-year federal grant, the Centre set up shop in an old farm house on the Saanich Peninsula Hospital property.

Today, the not-for-profit organization operates day programs, a community bathing program, a health equipment lending program called the Loan Cupboard, as well as podiatry and blood pressure clinics in a “home away from home” atmosphere.

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Harfield called the donation “a major milestone” for the Centre’s history and its ongoing services such as the adult day program.

“This program offers the invisible benefit of respite from the stress of 24/7 caregiving that diseases such as Alzheimer’s requires not only the immediate family members, but the caring community,” she said.

For more information visit MountNewtonCentre.org.

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