When Debbie O’Brien thinks of her father, Don, she remembers the twinkle in his eyes.
“It’s hard to describe the magic in my father’s eyes,” she says. “Every day, when he walked into a room, he lit up the whole place.”
He was a successful entrepreneur and “a generous man of heart,” she says. “He taught me the value of giving.”
Don and Shirley, Debbie’s mother, established the Don and Shirley Green Family Charitable Foundation in Brockville, Ontario, where they lived and raised their family. The Foundation supports numerous charities in Canada and abroad, including SOS Children’s Villages and Canadian Aid for Chernobyl.
After Don’s death in 2016, the Green family donated $2 million to the Brockville General Hospital’s expansion project. The Donald B. Green Tower – named in his honour – is home to the hospital’s palliative care unit.
The need for better palliative care became apparent to Debbie after her father died in hospital because community-based hospice wasn’t an option.
“My dad was in an old room with duct tape on the window,” she says. “It was horrible. He did not want to spend his final days in hospital; he wanted to pass away in a peaceful environment in his community, surrounded by those he loved, but unfortunately a hospice bed wasn’t available when he needed it.”
Debbie realized that to change the system, she needed to think beyond bricks and mortar. Through a transformative donation of $1.5 million, the Green family established the Don Green Palliative Care Advocacy Team at the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS). The team is dedicated to championing solutions that improve access to, awareness and quality of palliative care across Canada. Their strategy involves removing barriers to increasing hospice beds and advocating for appropriate training for healthcare providers.
“It’s important that people understand the difference between hospice and palliative care. I want to ensure what happened to our family never happens again by increasing awareness of palliative and hospice care, not only locally but nationally,” says Debbie. “That's one of the reasons why CCS is the right organization for this type of advocacy. Their reach is coast to coast.”
Debbie knows her father would be supportive of these efforts to effect change.
“He would say, ‘I’m glad you're trying to ensure this never happens to anybody else,’” she says. “He was a man who made a difference, and it's been our Foundation’s honour to continue that legacy for him.”