In Memory of Joel Jacobson
Credit: John DeMont, Chronicle Herald, August 19th, 2022
Dear members of the Ostomy Halifax community,
As I’m sure many of you have heard, our group lost one of its core members yesterday when Joel Jacobson passed away following a recent cancer diagnosis. First, and on behalf of all of our membership, I’d like to extend condolences to Joel’s wife Cathy and the rest of the Jacobson family on the loss of a wonderful partner, father, and grandfather.
Since he joined Ostomy Halifax many years ago, Joel was a tremendous influence on many people’s ostomy journeys. Joel was one of our most committed volunteers and, just as importantly, he was someone who set the tone for many of our meetings and activities with his enthusiasm, positivity, and humour (both good jokes and groan-inducing ones). Joel contributed to almost every aspect of the organization over the years, including emceeing events, coordinating our annual awards, helping to plan programming, leading Ostomy Halifax’s Stoma Stroll and Step Up for Ostomy effort, editing the Ostomy Halifax Gazette each month, and much more. For his dedication, Joel received Ostomy Halifax’s highest honour, the Burleigh Wile award in 2009. Then, because that’s just the giving person Joel was, he kept up that pace over the next decade and received a special Meritorious Service award in 2019. Even as recently as last month, Joel was very actively involved in making sure our newsletters and programming were on track for the Fall.
Joel was also a fantastic contributor to other community efforts – he was a jack of all trades who participated in many Ostomy Canada programs and was a recipient of their Maple Leaf Award for outstanding volunteer service. Beyond the ostomy support groups, his involvement in Nova Scotia’s sports world and as a freelance Master of Ceremonies made it feel like every person in our province (and a good chunk of Canada) had crossed paths with him at some point and had only positive things to say about him. For more great examples of this impact, I highly suggest reading John DeMont's excellent tribute to Joel from today's Chronicle Herald.
We could probably write as many words commemorating Joel as he wrote in his 25+ years as a writer and columnist, and it still wouldn’t do justice to what his efforts meant to ostomates and to our larger community. Instead, I’ll just encourage you to support each other and share memories, to look for the Bright Spots in each day, and to keep making each other laugh – just like Joel did in every meeting, on every Zoom call, and over every cup of coffee. We’ll miss you, Joel.
Sincerely,
Stephen Likely
President – Ostomy Halifax Society
Fundraiser
One of Joel Jacobson’s favourite events was the Stoma Stroll – more recently named Step Up For Ostomy. Joel was consistently one of the top fundraisers in the country for Ostomy Canada’s largest fundraising event. To honour Joel’s outstanding contributions to both Ostomy Canada and Ostomy Halifax over several decades, your Business Committee thought we should try to match Joel’s record one more time.
Step Up for Ostomy takes place on October 2nd this year. While that is the main event, contributions are accepted for several months after this date. This year, please consider making your donation through Joel’s Team on the Ostomy Canada website. Instructions for how to do this are in the next section of this email.
All the funds will go directly to Ostomy Canada. They will use the funds to assist with Advocacy – like the Disability Tax Credit; Education - to help train more NSWOCs (Nurses Specialized in Wound and Ostomy Care); Support – to sustain the activities of ostomy Chapters and Peer Support Groups across Canada; and Lobby – to continue to work toward having ostomy supplies added to Universal Pharmacare.
To contribute to Step Up For Ostomy as part of Joel’s Team:
1) Follow this link to get to Ostomy Halifax’s Joel’s Team fundraising page.
2) On the right-hand side of the page, click on Give Now.
3) Enter your donation amount on the next page, then hit Continue.
4) Add your name and a public message if you’d like – or you can skip this step and remain anonymous! Once this is done, hit Continue again.
5) Enter your payment details. The fundraising website accepts most major credit cards. Then press Continue one more time!
6) You’ll see a summary of your donation, and fields where you can enter your name and email address to receive your donation receipt.