St. Croix Yacht Club Hospice Regatta
February 19-21, 2010 at St. Croix Yacht Club
In the course of our lifetime, many of us will turn to hospice care for a loved one. Hospice Care is not about healing or curing, but about providing loving and attentive care to people at the end of their lives. Most often, and ironically, the care hospice staff provides turns out to be a real life saver for the family and friends of that loved one. It is a business built on compassion, and teaching those of us who live how to prepare for, and prepare our loved one, for death.
On St. Croix, and in the Virgin Islands specifically, there is one company I am aware of that provides hospice care to many of our island residents. Continuum Care, Inc., a Virgin Islands Company, has provided hospice care since 2000, and was the first Medicare certified hospice in the Virgin Islands.
Over one-third of the population of St. Croix is underinsured or has no health insurance coverage at all. One hundred percent of the funds raised during the upcoming St. Croix Yacht Club Hospice Regatta this February 19-21, 2010, will go to support the end-of-life medical needs of St. Croix residents, regardless of their ability to pay.
Your tax-deductible sponsorship will ensure that all St. Croix residents will benefit from a dignified and peaceful finish to their lives. And regardless of whether or not you spend time on St. Croix year-round, part-time, one week per year, or once every few years, chances are if you are reading this blog on GoToStCroix.com, you have some connection with the island community we have.
If you are lucky enough to be on St. Croix Feb 19-21 you can enjoy watching the race from the east end of St. Croix. May we recommend brunch at Cultured Pelican or Duggan’s Reef, where the boats are so close you can reach out and touch them. You may also be able to volunteer in some way to assist with the race at the St. Croix Yacht Club. They have posted a list of their needs for the all-volunteer event on their site: www.StCroixHospiceRegatta.com
Please consider supporting the Hospice Regatta with your time or a donation to help support the special people in the business of compassionate hospice care. Contributing your time, your energy, your talents, your house, your boat, will make a difference. Please call (340.773.9531) or email the race organizers at the St. Croix Yacht Club, and make the 2010 Regatta a big success!
Terrific idea-could be instituted everywhere
You have said this so nicely – many thanks. It should be a fun weekend, and we hope to raise enough money to ensure that everyone on St. Croix will get the end-of-life care they need. Remember, it’s not only the patient that receives the benefits of Hospice care – it’s everyone who cares about the patient, too.
The one regret we hear from families about hospice is that “we should have called them sooner.” With funding provided by the regatta’s efforts, there will be no excuse for delaying the benefits of hospice on St. Croix.
We’re sailing a regatta this weekend inspired by competition and enhanced with compassion. We are not alone, however, but one of 29 national hospice regattas in the U.S. and Canada, sanctioned by the National Hospice Regatta Alliance. Winners of each regatta get invited to a national hospice regatta championship held in June in Rochester, NY.
Get a boat, get a crew, come and sail with us!