The family of Bruce Dearing, who spent his final days at the Rose Garden Hospice, participated in the Run For Rose fundraiser for the hospice on Saturday. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

By Teena Monteleone

Run for Rose

Over 350 participants join Run for Rose fundraiser supporting local hospice

May 24, 2025 | 1:06 PM

Bruce Dearing passed away in the Rose Garden Hospice last July with his entire family by his side, while watching his favourite team, the Toronto Blue Jays, win their game.

“There was so many of us there with him and there’s no way that would have been able to happen at the hospital,” said one of his three daughters, Brittney Hoey. “That was pretty essential that we could all be around him till the very end.”

Dearing spent about three weeks in the hospice. His family gathered there once again on Saturday to participate in an annual fundraiser – the Run for Rose.

Participants gather at the start line of the Run for Rose event on Saturday, May 24. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

More than 350 participants took part in a 2km, 5km or 10km event supported by over 25 local sponsors, including the Prince Albert Auto Dealers Association. Source for Sports Prince Albert also partnered with the family of a former hospice patient, Glen Denham, to offer a free BBQ at the event.

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Fundraising for the hospice initially started in 2008 when family and friends of the late Rose Daschuk realized the need for one in northern Saskatchewan. The facility welcomed its first patients last year.

“Now that we’re here, people still don’t fully understand what we are,” said Ian Dickson, who runs community engagement and philanthropy for the hospice. “As we’ve grown, we’ve had more than 260 people come through now, and we get more and more feedback from people who ‘get it’… because they’ve been affected by it. They’ve been in the building on a personal level, and they see what an amazing place this is and how lucky we are to have this in Prince Albert.”

Ian Dickson oversees community engagement and philanthropy for the Rose Garden Hospice. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

There is no cost to guests or their families staying at the Rose Garden Hospice. All the services, including rooms, meals and professional care, are provided entirely free of charge thanks to a combination of public and private funding. The hospice receives about $2 million in operating funds from the provincial government, but Dickson said they have a goal to raise an additional $400,000 to $600,000 per year through fundraising.

“We wanted to do that instead of changing the level of service that we offer because the reason we have such a good reputation is that we’ve got about a three-to-one ratio of healthcare staff to guests in a 10-bed facility, which is almost unheard of,” he explained.

That level of care is why Dearing’s family said he chose to be at the hospice to spend his last days.

“He knew Mom couldn’t provide the care he needed at home, and he knew that would take some of the hardship off our family, and we will just be forever grateful for the care he received,” said his eldest daughter Melanie Willie.

It wasn’t just Dearing who received the special care in hospice. His middle daughter, Jamie Jensen, said they were able to enjoy two family meals together, the staff brought treats for the kids and puzzles to help pass the time.

“He was always talking about how he loved the food here. They always had home-cooked meals, and he loved that and visiting with the staff. He loved the staff,” said Jensen.

The main focus of the hospice, Dickson said, is to make the patients and guests comfortable, whether that’s through meals cooked from scratch or through medication.

The fundraiser included a 2km, 5km and 10km walk/run. (Teena Monteleone/paNOW)

Use of the Rose Garden Hospice continues to grow. Dickson said all 10 beds are currently taken, and there is a waitlist as more people realize the benefits of a hospice.

“It’s a much better environment to be in for somebody who is palliatively ill than it is to be at the hospital or at home with family that doesn’t have the resources to take care of them in the way that they need to be.”

Dickson said there is room for growth and a need for it, but for now, they’ll continue to fundraise and focus on continuing to provide exceptional end-of-life care in the space they’ve worked almost two decades to build.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com