As executive director Patsy Berger-North walks through the spacious, homey building which houses Mount Newton Centre her love, dedication and passion for the organization are clear.
Nestled on a beautiful corner of the Saanich Peninsula Hospital grounds, Mount Newton Centre in Saanichton has been a fixture on the Peninsula for 33 years — much the same way as Berger-North has been a fixture to the centre. The centre, which provides senior day care programs, community health checks and health clinics, assists more than 4,000 members of the community through their many independently-funded initiatives and programs every year. Berger-North has been with the rural health care initiative for 32 of the centre’s 33 years of operation, and throughout has worn many different hats. “I’ve done pretty much every job here except driving the bus,” Berger-North laughed about her years spent with the centre.
Berger-North was hired at the centre in 1979 as a registered nurse and has since played a role in every aspect of the centre’s growth and success. The centre began in an old farmhouse on the same property and in the late 1980s the centre received funding from the Ministry of Health and the CRD to build a new building. By mid-1989, Berger-North was assisting in the planning and design of the new centre and donning her hard-hat on a regular basis as she walked through the site and watched the progress. “I was here at the site every day in my gumboots watching the construction of the centre come together — it was so great. I really feel like we succeeded in making this place feel like a home.” Since then, the centre has settled in to the large, bright building it calls home and hasn’t stopped providing an array of services to the community.
Although impressive in its own right, the most astonishing thing about Mount Newton Centre is the tremendous support of the community that keeps it running in the style that it does.
All the programs offered through the centre are significantly enhanced through fund-raising initiatives and donations. The cost of everyday operations, equipment and furniture within the centre are all supported through donations.
The centre’s long list of features includes a large bright room used for dining, entertainment and socializing (which encompasses the new kitchen which was recently donated by the Sidney Lions Club and construction volunteers), two bathing rooms which each feature purpose-built tubs that allow easy access and bathing capabilities, a podiatry room dedicated to treating seniors’ feet, a small hair salon for shampoos and sets and numerous offices for meetings, consultations and clinics provided by health care professionals. The centre also has a large outbuilding totally dedicated to equipment rental and maintenance. Almost every type of medical equipment can be rented from the centre for a donation or a nominal fee, depending on length of usage. The centre is self-sufficient and transports its attendees to and fro for a small fee in specially equipped busses and vans which were, again, fundraised for and donated by members of the community. Berger-North is particularly proud of the program the centre has in place to help out those less fortunate around the world. The centre donates, with the help of airlines and outreach programs abroad, all of their gently used equipment (wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, canes, etc.) that they no longer have any use for. In the past, this equipment has gone to Thailand, Central America, Mexico, South America and Africa to help underprivileged and disabled people.
All the invaluable programs and assistance Mount Newton Centre and its members offer to the community (locally and globally) haven’t gone unnoticed. In January 2007 Mount Newton Centre and Berger-North, were each recipients of the Humanitarian of the Year award conferred by the International Committee For the Relief of Starvation and Suffering (ICROSS). The award was given for contributions to Third World countries which are both needed and welcome. The award was presented by Iona Campagnolo, former Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, in a ceremony at the centre.