HealthPartners’ volunteer Myra Conway wins 2013 GCWCC Mitchell Sharp Award
November 29, 2013
OTTAWA: HealthPartners is pleased to announce that Myra Conway, is the recipient of the 2013 Government of Canada’s Workplace Charitable Campaign (GCWCC) Mitchell Sharp Award for outstanding volunteerism. Myra’s support and commitment to HealthPartners and the Alzheimer Society of Ottawa and Renfrew County, has played an instrumental role in helping to build awareness of Alzheimer’s and dementia in her community.
Myra’s husband was diagnosed at a young age with a rare form of dementia. He has since succumbed to the disease. Today, Myra, a retiree from Public Works and Government Services Canada, dedicates her time as a HealthPartners volunteer and has helped countless people learn about the services and programs available at the Alzheimer Society within Ottawa and Renfrew County and the important work HealthPartners does in every community across Canada.
The Mitchell Sharp Award is named after the late and highly regarded Canadian statesman, who dedicated his life’s work to our country and the well-being of its people. Each year, at the GCWCC Achievement Celebration, one volunteer is the named recipient of this award for their lifetime contributions and commitment to the community.
“Myra is an outstanding ambassador for HealthPartners and the Alzheimer Society. Sharing her personal story has helped many families come to grips with this devastating disease. Her passion, generosity and leadership has left a lasting impression on the volunteers she trains and the groups she speaks to,” says HealthPartners’ CEO Eileen Dooley.
Over the course of the last two and a half years, Myra has helped to shape the Alzheimer Society of Ottawa and Renfrew County’s Volunteer Speakers Bureau from one of a handful of interested volunteers to a team of 30 trained volunteers. She has helped to review and develop the Bureau’s resources by creating and delivering trainings and mentoring new volunteers.
“Myra blends her great compassion for people living with dementia with her excellent organizational skills,” says Alzheimer Society of Ottawa and Renfrew County’s Executive Director Kathy Wright. “She’s an invaluable volunteer.”
Myra is actively engaged in sharing her story with Government employees and retirees at GCWCC launch events, and at HealthPartners Seeing is Believing Tours, where federal employees see firsthand medical research facilities, prevention and treatment programs and the families they treat. These tours demonstrate the impact of donor contributions on creating long-lasting social and health changes in our communities. They increase awareness and knowledge of how HealthPartners works with people, supporters, organizations and others to make a difference in the lives of thousands of people.
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About HealthPartners:
HealthPartners connects employees to Canada’s most trusted health charities. Collectively in the workplace, we help to build healthy workers, workplaces and communities; provide programs and services to the 87% of Canadians living with chronic disease and major illness; and find cures and treatments for these diseases through life saving research. For more information please visit www.healthpartners.ca.
For more information:
Siobhan Williams, HealthPartners’ Director, Marketing and Communications
(613) 562-1469 ext. 228, swilliams@healthpartners.ca