Vancouver Communauté Nouvelles

A new initiative at Victoria General Hospital will help ensure babies get the hugs they need to thrive, even if parents aren’t able to be at their newborn’s side. Specially trained volunteers will cuddle, rock and sing to babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).

In a nursery in the neonatal intensive care unit at Victoria General Hospital, a tiny baby squirms and gives a smile to the woman rocking her. Sarah Byam isn’t a doctor or a nurse or even young Lady’s mother — she’s one of the hospital’s first volunteer “huggers.”

The Seniors Services Society is on the hunt for board members to help it assist seniors throughout Metro Vancouver. The upcoming term will begin on July 1, 2017 and last for two years. Board meetings are held on the last Tuesday of every month at 4 p.m.

The Land Conservancy of British Columbia has created a $100,000 endowment fund in honour of a longtime volunteer. The Jack Eldridge Memorial Fund for Abkhazi Garden honours the contribution of Jack Eldridge, a conservancy member of 18 years who died in October.

Three quarters of the world’s cancer burden is in developing countries. While we are so blessed to live in a country where access to leading cancer research, treatments and education is readily available, other countries are far more challenged.

A Vancouver non-profit successfully raised hundreds of thousands of dollars Friday night to help treat eating disorders in Metro Vancouver. The Looking Glass Foundation held its 13th annual fundraiser gala at the Rocky Mountaineer Station, raising $450,000 in funds to support their residential treatment facility and other programs, including a new peer support program designed as a new model for mental health treatment.