Uko Akpanuko
Daily Herald
For 11 years, Prince Albert and area Saskatchewan Royal Purple members have been advocating for more support for residents with acquired brain injuries. On Saturday, March 1, they announced a partnership with two new organizations, The Provincial Association of Transition Houses (PATHS) and Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE).
The Saskatchewan Royal Purple is branching out.
“It’s time for us to look at a broader approach to the brain injury scene in our province,” Saskatchewan Royal Purple Charity Partnership Committee Chair Sandi Lougheed said in a press release. “We will still be supporting the brain injury survivors involved in SBIA’s camps and retreats but there are further needs to be addressed.” Lougheed said there is a need to cover more areas of brain injury arose because of the high number of persons involved in brain injury. She said organizations like PATHS and SANE are good partners because both serve woman with a high chance of suffering a brain injury. “The statistics are not pretty,” Lougheed said. “One in three women encounter interpersonal violence and, of those, one in eight suffer a brain injury due to being hit or strangled. These are brain injuries that are totally preventable.
While support for PATHS and SANE is new, the Saskatchewan Royal Purple have already been busy partnering with organizations that help women escape interpersonal violence.
That includes a partnership with the PA Safe Shelter, which provides domestic violence and interpersonal violence victims with a place to stay.
PA Safe Shelter support services worker and supervisor Brendalee Pellerin said that partnership has been invaluable.
“We have that friendship connection now,” Pellerin said. “It goes beyond just an organization supporting a shelter.
“The service and the support that they provide to people with brain injuries is insurmountable.”
Saturday’s announcement was the first in a series of changes for the organization. The biggest involves plans to operate the Feather Ridge facility in Christopher Lake. The facility provides care for 10 young people suffering from acquired brain injuries. The Saskatchewan Royal Purple are currently waiting on approval from the provincial government.
“Even if our project is not approved, we have engaged in a year long advocacy on behalf of these youth and their families,” Lougheed said in a press release. “We have established contacts and supports for them and we will continue to support these young people however we can.”
March 1 kicked off the 11th BrainLove month in Canada. More than 1,000 volunteers across Canada will be putting up posters and distributing information about brain injuries and how they can be prevented.
“Saskatchewan can be really proud. It’s where we started it 11 years ago in Prince Albert and it became national now four years ago,” Lougheed said in an interview afterwards. “Saskatchewan can be proud, on the volunteer scene, with how we have come together with the brain injury associations … and that has simply grown across Canada.” Saturday’s kickoff also included cheque presentations for the cause. Royal Purple groups from around the province raised a total of $9,000. The speakers at the event included Sandi Lougheed and Brendalee Pellerin, MLA Alana Ross and Mayor Bill Powalinsky as well as Kerrie Elliott from Feather Ridge in Christopher Lake,
who thanked the Royal Purple for their advocacy. –with files from Michael Oleksyn/Daily Herald
