The Palliative Care Unit at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital is the last place many terminally ill patients see and for those families who visit loved ones to share quality time at life’s end it at times becomes a second home.
Although recently renovated, the unit can always benefit from improvements and friends and family of Ron Opheim who spent his finals days there before he lost his battle to cancer want to spruce up the unit’s garden in his memory.
When Ron died on June 15, 2011 he left behind many friends in the newspaper industry and it was one of his colleagues who came up with the idea to hold a tournament in his name.
Ron started his newspaper career at the Parksville Qualicum Beach News as a sales rep then migrated to the Peninsula News as publisher and later transferred to the Ladysmith Chronicle as publisher. He then was promoted to National Sales on Vancouver Island.
His daughter Maigan has followed in her father’s footsteps and for the last year and a half has been working at the Nanaimo News Bulletin. She said it can be bitter sweet, working in the same industry in which her father was so admired.
“I started two days after he left for medical leave. He was proud of me because this was his baby. He impacted many people’s lives. It can be hard when I run into people who knew him.”
The 21-year-old said one of her dad’s favorite things was spending time in his garden at home, but when his health began to fail, he couldn’t enjoy it anymore.
She said the garden at the Palliative Care Unit was nice and her father spent some time visiting it, but they want to make it spectacular.
Maigan is part of committee organizing the Ron Opheim Memorial Golf Tournament at Morningstar Golf Course in Parksville, Saturday, September 24.
Also working on the event is Richard Dutka, who not only worked with Ron for 18 years, but grew up with him in Nanaimo where the two played and coached hockey together.
He said anyone who met Ron knew how much he loved hockey and golf and he says having a tournament in his name is a great way to honour his memory and raise money for the Palliative Care Unit.
“I don’t know yet if it will become an annual event. We will have to wait and see what kind of a response we get but it would be nice,” he said.
Tickets for the tournament are $99 per person and includes nine holes of golf, a golf cart and steak dinner. There are limited tickets for the dinner only which is $25 per person. Registration for the event will be closing soon.
To register please call Maigan Opheim at 250-753-3707 or e-mail her at ads@nanaimobulletin.com or Cathy Donald at 250-753-3707 or e-mail reception@nanaimobulletin.com.
