Smile Cookie Campaign to benefit local healthcare

LEDUC -- The Leduc Community Hospital Foundation has been chosen as a beneficiary of this year's Smile Cookie Campaign.

The annual charity campaign will get underway on Monday, Nov. 30, and continue until Sunday, Dec. 6. For this year, 50 per cent of the proceeds will go to the hospital foundation's efforts to bolster local healthcare, while the other 50 per cent will benefit the Tim Hortons Foundation Camps. LCHF Executive Director Joy Jeong says this year's campaign will support their latest efforts. 

"Smile cookies will be sold at all Tim Horton's locations and three locations in Leduc," said Jeong. "Leduc Common, the Tim Hortons in the Hawthrone area, and also the new one opening up near the airport. Smile cookies purchased at those three locations will be benefiting our foundation." 

Proceeds from the campaign will support the Leduc Community Hospital Foundation's latest vision of adding a new virtual patient monitoring program at the hospital. This program includes the installation of cameras in patients' rooms -- with the consent of patients and families -- for patients who could be prone to fall risks, dementia patients, and those who would be at risk of accidentally pulling out their oxygen.

"Because our nurses are stretched so thin, these cameras would be set up in their rooms, and we do have staff at the university hospital that are able to monitor up to nine patients at once," said Jeong. "If they see something happening in a patient's room, they can either communicate with the patient or notify our nurses that they need to check on their room. It limits strain on our nurses, and it helps families go home at night and have some peace of mind because they know someone is watching their family members."

For this year's Smile Cookie Campaign, re-order forms for businesses, organizations, clubs, and teams will open on Nov. 16.