Attention Edmonton community! The Canadian Mental Health Association - Edmonton Region is pleased to announce the relaunch of its impactful Youth Suicide Grief Support Program, starting tomorrow! This vital program is designed to support youth aged 12-25 and their families/caregivers who have experienced a loss due to suicide.
When a child is diagnosed with a critical illness or suffers a critical injury, their family’s life shatters into pieces. Parents and siblings are catapulted into new terminology, clinical discussions, hospitals, treatments, huge changes, and fear along with the child in care. Families who receive ongoing care for their child or children at the Stollery Children’s Hospital know this too well.
Park Memorial recently added Aftercare Specialist Sarah Kucharski to our team of funeral professionals. Her role is to make the aftercare process of completing forms and applications, and closing a loved one’s estate a little easier; she walks beside each of our families to assist with these tasks after the funeral. She comes to us with almost 20 years of experience as a Licensed Preneed and Aftercare Specialist. Park Memorial is a full-service funeral home, therefore Sarah’s care is included in our professional services to each family that we care for.
A will is a legal document that reflects your end-of-life wishes and values, and it can provide peace of mind and clarity for yourself and your loved ones. Having a will is important because it allows you to decide who will be charged with managing your estate (your executor), such as overseeing your liabilities, who may take care of minor children and who will inherit your assets.
As the sun sets on our incredible event last Friday, we find ourselves reflecting on the profound journey of self-discovery and empowerment that was The Strength Within: Balancing Life, Loss & Chaos. Over the course of the day, we witnessed remarkable transformations, forged deep connections, and witnessed the extraordinary power of resilience in action.
Aspen Service Dogs is dedicated to training and providing service dogs to individuals facing various challenges, including those coping with PTSD, autism, and more. With a mission rooted in compassion and empathy, Aspen Service Dogs aims to enhance the quality of life for their clients by offering the invaluable support and companionship of a professionally trained service dog.
The Edmonton Food Bank operates from a sprawling 30,000 square foot warehouse, a testament to their scale and impact. Since their inception, the demand for their services has surged exponentially. In 2022, they assisted an average of 30,000 people per month, a number that rose to 34,000 in 2023, solely through the distribution of individual hampers. Over the past decade, the need for their services has doubled and a half, highlighting the critical role they play in our community's welfare.
Park Memorial Funeral Home hosts a Christmas Memorial Service every December to give the families that we have served over the past few years, as well as the community-at-large, the opportunity to gather together to remember their loved ones who have passed away. For the past two years, we decided to support three local organizations while also allowing our families to pay meaningful tribute to their loved ones via our memorial donation. In order to choose which organizations we would support, we first gave our staff family a list of local organizations and asked them to vote on their top three.
Navigating grief is a deeply personal journey, one that touches individuals from all walks of life. However, when it comes to women in leadership roles, the experience takes on added layers of complexity and nuance.
International Women's Day presents the opportunity for reflection and discussion: about women's victories and celebrations, our trials and sorrows, and our collective responsibility to thoughtfully shape the world our children will inherit.
