Over the coming weeks, staff at the Mercy Hospital Foundation will telephone hundreds of households across Cork City and County asking them to support the charity’s Annual Raffle, which this year will raise funds for an upgrade of the Care of the Elderly Ward in The Mercy University Hospital.

People with dementia do not always find adjustment easy, particularly when in hospital with an illness. Through the annual raffle and support from donors, The Mercy Hospital Foundation aims to raise €20,000 to upgrade the Care of the Elderly Ward (St. Mary’s) to make it more dementia-friendly and reduce the challenges that their patients with dementia face when in hospital.

The biggest change to the Ward will be the upgrade of the Day Room in St. Mary’s. Currently, the Day Room is dull and dreary and used as a storage area. The money raised through the 2015 Raffle will transform the Day Room into a cosy sitting room for patients, making them feel a little more at home.

For people suffering from dementia, they can forget where they are and why they are in hospital. Disorientation and bewilderment are a common experience for people with dementia and it can be very distressing and frightening. When a person with dementia is taken out of the familiar environment of their home, it can be very difficult for them to adjust. Everything around them is so different and unfamiliar. They can feel quite confused, scared and they miss home.

Speaking about the upgrade of the Day Room, Dr. Suzanne Timmons, Consultant Geriatrician at The Mercy said “Creating a space that is familiar and safe will help patients to relax and enable them to engage in familiar activities for example, watching television or sitting around a fireplace. The new Day Room will be a homely space for patients and will promote socialising and engaging in group activities. Pictures and memory boxes will enable patients to reminisce and sensory items will aim to decrease agitation and restlessness. Now you can see why each ticket sold is so important to us. By selling tickets you are making a real and meaningful difference to our older patients.”

Tickets for the annual raffle are €3 each or two for €5, with great prizes to be won when the draw takes place on Friday, November 27th. First prize is €1,000 cash, and second is €500. Every ticket sold will help to make the Care of the Elderly Ward more dementia-friendly. By selling tickets you are transforming lives and as an added incentive, for every book of tickets sold, the seller will get a free complimentary ticket to enter the draw themselves.

Julie Harris, Head of Donor Care and Interim Head of Fundraising at the Mercy Hospital Foundation said “Our mission is to support the Hospital in delivering the highest quality of patient care by raising funds to support advancements and innovation in the treatment and care of patients at the Mercy Hospital, the People’s Hospital. We promise to do our very best to provide you with a world class hospital, right on your doorstep, and this is only possible through the help of our supporters and donors, like those who buy, and indeed sell, tickets for our Annual Raffle.”

If you would like to buy or sell tickets on behalf of the Mercy Hospital Foundation or have any queries relating to the 2015 Raffle, please call the Raffle Hotline on (021) 4274076, log on to www.mercyfundraising.ie or email info@mercyfundraising.ie.