Brilliant blue skies and a sparkling ocean greeted the participants on the water for the 13th two-day Annual Sharp HospiceCare Benefit Regatta on Aug. 28 – 29. The event netted more than $360,000, even more than last year’s Regatta.
Brilliant blue skies and a sparkling ocean greeted the participants on the water for the 13th two-day Annual Sharp HospiceCare Benefit Regatta on Aug. 28 – 29. The event netted more than $360,000, even more than last year’s Regatta.
Hosted in partnership with Coronado Yacht Club and Cortez Racing Association, the Regatta supports Sharp HospiceCare with all of the proceeds benefiting its Homes for Hospice campaign. Under this initiative to build hospice homes in San Diego County, two hospice homes operate in La Mesa and Del Cerro. A third one in Bonita will open this fall.
“I am very grateful to all the partners, sponsors, volunteers and community members who give generously to the Regatta in support of Sharp HospiceCare programs and services,” said Suzi K. Johnson, Vice President, Sharp HospiceCare.
Johnson said that the funds raised would also help provide care to people without insurance or have other unmet needs.
“This year, tribute was paid to veterans in our community, highlighting the
We Honor Veterans program which provides special services to veterans and their families nearing end of life,” she said.
The sell-out crowd at the Hotel del Coronado banquet on the evening before the regatta featured guest emcee Pat Brown, former chief weather anchor for ABC 10 News San Diego. Attendees dined and danced and enjoyed a live and silent auction.
The regatta drew 47 sailboats competing in the regatta, with 650 attendees watching the race from aboard 39 private yachts.
The sailboat “Justice” won the race for the second year in a row. John Harrop was the proud skipper. From the spectator boat “Silver Lining,” Patricia Camarda waved and cheered congratulations to Harrop.
The regatta fundraiser holds special significance for Camarda, a Santee resident. Five years ago, her late husband was in hospice care at the Lakeview home. He had been in great pain with esophageal cancer. Camarda had done all she could to take care of him but felt helpless once he started falling. So she called Lakeview.
“The wonderful lady nurse from Lakeview that I was talking on the phone with heard him screaming, and she said she would be right over to help.
“And she did come from her house to ours. When she was the state he was in, she convinced him that he needed to go to Lakeview, although he really didn’t want to go. But once he was there, he was more comfortable than he had been in a long while,” Camarda said.
Her husband stayed at Lakeview for a week before he passed on.
“Sure, it was sad to see my husband go, but the hospice experience at Lakeview was the best I could have expected for him in his last days,” Camarda said.
Rather than come as a guest this year, Camarda paid the full $150 to be a spectator on a boat.
“It’s for a very good cause,” she said.
Johnson explained that the hospice homes are available to all people receiving care from Sharp Hospice and who need specialized 24-hour nursing care. Most hospice care is provided in patients’ own homes, or wherever the patient resides, such as a skilled nursing facility or assisted living facility.
“The Hospice Homes are there to provide 24/7 medical and psychosocial care for pain, symptom management and issues related to the dying process,” Johnson said.
Sharp HospiceCare is an organization that provides comprehensive care and compassionate support to patients and their families struggling with a life-limiting illness. Sharp’s hospice homes are unique living environments – custom-designed and built in established, residential neighborhoods. They are the only places of their kind in San Diego County that combine around-the-clock hospice care with an intimate, comfortable, home-like setting.
For more information about Sharp HospiceCare, visit www.sharp.com/hospice.
