St. Eugene Golf Resort & Casino is proud of its roots in the Cranbrook area.

Moving from a residential school that operated until 1970 to a thriving resort since 2000, St. Eugene has seen many positive changes. Recently St. Eugene (pictured above) has taken its community spirit one-step further by contributing a percentage of East Kootenay resident green fees to non-profit charitable organizations.

The month of July is no exception and for every Sunday in July starting July 1, St Eugene will donate 25% of local green fees to the Kidney Foundation of BC.

Local residents have been benefiting from the Kidney Foundation for many years and Heather Hockley is no stranger to the generosity of the Foundation.

In 2008 Heather was diagnosed with kidney failure and almost immediately started daily dialysis as a treatment for Kidney Failure.

“The foundation was there with me all the way,” Heather stated. “When I was first diagnosed with kidney disease I was scared and worried. While I knew about the different treatment options I did not know which one would be right for me, heather recalls. The Kidney Foundation immediately put me in touch with other patients who had undergone the different treatment options.”

That ultimately helped Heather decide on what type of dialysis would be best for her lifestyle.

When Heather started peritoneal dialysis, she was doing “an exchange” four times a day. An exchange is a system where fluid is put into the peritoneal cavity and removes toxins from your blood, each exchange would take just over one hour. Working full time with two teenaged children at home it wasn’t long before Heather knew she wanted something different.

Due to lack of training in the Cranbrook area she travelled to Penticton and was soon trained on the “Night Cycler.”

The night cycler did the same thing as the exchange only it was all done at night over an eight-hour period. With this type of treatment, Heather was able to continue working while maintaining a somewhat normal life. In 2011, she received a life changing call and she was immediately airlifted to Vancouver where she underwent a kidney transplant.

Heather told us that the Kidney Foundation was there to help by helping with her air fare to get to Vancouver and subsidizing her rent while in Vancouver.

This was a huge relief and allowed Heather the opportunity to take care of her health without the worry of the added bills. Not only did they subsidize Heathers rent she was not required to pay anything until she returned home and was back to work. Heather is not alone she is one of many Cranbrook and area residents that rely on the support of the Kidney Foundation.

The Kidney Foundation, BC & Yukon Branch has provided over $110,000 in grants and loans to kidney patients living in the Kootenays over the last 20 years.  In addition, there were many kidney patients from the Kootenays who stayed for free in our Kidney Suites – post-kidney-transplant, as well as some who stayed as paying patients ($25 per night).

Each year, The Kidney Foundation sends about 40 children with CKD to Kidney Camp and covers all the costs, flights, buses, camp fees etc.  Children from all across B.C. are welcome to attend.

The Kidney Foundation held a kidney disease prevention targeted screening event in Trail. The renal social worker in Trail and in Cranbrook has been provided with petty cash accounts to use when needed for their kidney patients.

Fifteen potential living donors from the Kootenays have been reimbursed for expenses relating to assessment and surgery associated with being a living kidney donor through the LODERP program.

Any funds offered to the Kidney Foundation, BC & Yukon Branch through third-party fundraisers are applied towards Patient Services to enable all British Columbians, including those in the Kootenays, to be able to access our programs when they need them.

As an East Kootenay resident, simply by booking a Sunday T-time at St. Eugene golf course you will not only enjoy a relaxing day on one of the areas well known golf courses, you will also be helping those people with Kidney disease right here in Cranbrook and the East Kootenay.

St. Eugene is a proud community supporter and this is just one more way that they are able to give back to our community.

Heather, who has represented British Columbia at two other transplant games as well as representing Canada in Malaga, Spain in 2017, will be attending this year’s Canadian Transplant Games in Vancouver.

When Heather travels to Vancouver in early July she will be proudly promoting St. Eugene Golf course and representing Cranbrook to the rest of Canada.

“I am so thankful for St. Eugene’s support of the Canadian Transplant Games and their dedication to non-profit organizations such as the Kidney Foundation of BC,” Heather stated. “it really shows their involvement with the community.”

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