Mitch Mason

July 01 1936 – September 19 2022

We are sad to learn of the passing of Mitch Mason, a founder of our group in 1994. Mitch served as Chairperson from 1998 to 2013 and devoted almost 30 years to helping others cope with, and navigate, their journey with prostate cancer. He remained an active member of your Steering Committee until recently, when he was afflicted with a significant non-prostate related medical  issue. He will be missed, but we will cherish our fond memories.

Mitch passed away peacefully at the age of 86 surrounded by his family. He will be forever missed by his loving wife Marian of 63 years. Loving father to sons Jerry and Jeff (Linda), grandfather to Trevor and Jacob, brother to Bernice (Russ), Walter (Katie), Helen (Rod), brother-in-law to Jerry (Marion). Predeceased by his loving parents Andrija and Ljubica Masanovich. Mitch will always be remembered for his outgoing personality and friendliness. Mitch worked for Weltronic and later for Centerline Welding where he thoroughly enjoyed calling on customers. He belonged to Club 55 and Prostate Cancer Support Windsor/Essex, was an avid sports fan, enjoyed exercising, and played AKO football.

A private Memorial Service will be taking place at WINDSOR CHAPEL (Central), thoughts and condolences can be made online at www.windsorchapel.com. Donations can be made to the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation in memory of Mitch.

Tuesday October 11, 2022 Monthly Support Group Meeting at the Hospice (6038 Empress St.):

The Hospice venue is again available to us for this upcoming October meeting following an unforeseen staff issue that impacted last month’s meeting.  Masks are no longer required, we just ask that all participants sign in when they enter the building (sign-in is in the entry way). COVID screening forms are not needed at this time. If possible, please bring snacks as we have done in the past. 

This month’s speaker will be Jackie McCreary who is a cancer survivor and whose husband is a prostate cancer survivor.

She has given the talk many times: “How to Effectively Communicate with Your Healthcare Provider, (HCP),” which focuses on the rights AND responsibilities of the “patient.”  The HCP could be a physician, pharmacist, chiropractor, naturopath, specialist etc.

It is filled with tips and hints as to how to navigate the health care system, advocating for yourself, feeling empowered and learning better communication skills.

Jackie was an Obstetrical nurse at Met Hospital working Labour/Delivery and Postpartum.  From there she developed her own business educating women/ couples prenatally and postnatally.   As well she did labour coaching and taught a children’s prenatal class & pre/postnatal exercise classes.  She also was involved in many homebirths.

Jackie authoured the book “Food for Life, and for Thought” (Information and recipes for the Pregnant Family)

She owned a Gift, Card & Wig Boutique, From the Heart, for 32 years servicing hundreds of women going through chemotherapy and needing hair replacement. 

Jackie experienced cancer requiring surgery but it was determined that she did not need further treatment with chemotherapy.  Until that was determined, however, she felt the many concerns and fears that come along with a cancer diagnosis. 

We look forward to this presentation that should directly benefit those attending, but should also be equally valuable to arm those of us who may encounter those newly diagnosed who are dealing with the medical system. 

Remaining Fall Program – Nancy Hannon, who is the Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) Cancer Program Social Worker, will be presenting to us in November.  It is our current thought to again have our December Christmas Party at Legion 594, which coincides with their spaghetti night on Tuesday 13 December.  This worked out well last year.  Please mark that in your calendars and let us know your thoughts.  If you have ideas for presentations for the winter months, please let us know.

Awareness Presentations to Companies and Organizations – Garry Loeper has be giving awareness presentations to various organizations. If you are aware of any company or organization who might be interested in having a presentation, please let us know.

Hockey Games – We recently manned an awareness booth at the LaSalle Vipers hockey game and will be manning an awareness booth at Lakeshore Canadiens (28 October) and the Windsor Spitfires (12 November).  If you are interested in participating, please let us know.

VistaPrint Health and Wellness Fair – We recently manned an awareness booth at the VistaPrint Health and Wellness Fair on 23 September.

Legion 594 Health and Wellness Fair – We will be manning an awareness both at Legion 594 (Howard Ave) on 23 October.

More Community Awareness Events – Please let us know if you have ideas for us to promote ourselves at other sports events, company health and wellness fairs, fundraising campaigns, and other community events, etc.  We need to get the word out and we need your help!!!

Golf Shirts and Baseball Caps – We are ordering Golf Shirts and Baseball Caps with our new logo.  If you are interested in buying shirts or caps, please let us know.  Shirts will cost $30 and hats $20.

Prostate Cancer Support Canada – Jim Fair recently attended the 2022 Prostate Cancer Support Canada Virtual Conference, which was excellent.  You may view recordings of the presentations and download any available slides by visiting this link: https://mailchi.mp/prostatecancersupport/2022pcvcday1.

Financial Manager – We are still looking for a financial manager to relieve some workload off current SC members.  If you are interested, please let us know.

Webmaster – We are still looking for a webmaster to relieve some workload off current SC members.  If you are interested, please let us know.

Membership and Volunteers – If you are aware of other potential new members, please let us know.  We would also welcome women and others who are not survivors but who want to help.  If there are other areas that you would like to volunteer for, please let us know.  As our networking campaign gains momentum, we will need more horsepower.  These are exciting times as we emerge from COVID stagnation!!!!  Please get involved!!!!

Garry

Garry W. Loeper, CD, MScEng, PCIP, PMP, PEng

e-mail: gwloeper@gmail.com

cell: (613) 913-4799

Hello Windsor/Essex Members,

September 13th Monthly Meeting at Legion Branch 594 (5030 Howard Ave., Oldcastle, ON):
Please be aware that, unfortunately, the Hospice venue will NOT be available to us for this upcoming September meeting, due to an unforeseen staff issue. As an alternative, Legion Branch 594 has kindly offered one of their halls for us to use at no charge. This venue is great, with the added bonus of access to a cash bar. Also, the kitchen closes at 7pm, for those who want to show up early for a meal.

Mental health is one of our major themes for this fall. Several Steering Committee (SC) members have taken the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) Peer Facilitator Training, and Nancy Hannon, the Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) Cancer Program Social Worker, will be our presenter coming up in November. In keeping with this mental health theme, we are pleased to have Ed Kolar give a presentation on grief counselling for our September meeting, This should hopefully directly benefit anyone attending the meeting, but equally important, should equip us with some tools and techniques when providing Peer Support to the newly diagnosed and their loved ones.

Ed Kolar is a retired teacher and retired Pastor with decades of real world experience having helped hundreds dealing with grief. He is an exceptional speaker with a very dynamic style; his presentations are well received and always prove to be interesting, very relevant, and entertaining. On a side note, Ed is also a “Mad Scientist,” although not relevant to grief counselling, it speaks to his charismatic flair.

Please join us Tuesday, September 13th at 7:00pm

Remaining Fall Program – If you have ideas for presentations for October or the winter months, please let us know. It is our current thought to again have our 13 December Xmas Party at Legion 594, which coincides with their spaghetti night. This worked out well last year, where we also engaged a small band.
Please mark that in your calendars and let us know your thoughts.

In Other News:
We hope all of you have had a healthy and happy summer. While you have been frolicking on beaches and sipping on local wines, your Steering Committee has been very hard at work behind the scenes. Our main efforts have focused on networking with our stakeholders and partners with a view to expanding our community visibility. We deem this to be our main priority, to get the word out locally about our existence, in order to:
 Make sure the newly diagnosed and their families can access our support, which is our primary raison d’etre;
 Attract new members to enable us to achieve our goals, including providing peer support, as well as promoting awareness to the community; and
 Positioning ourselves to get in the face of the community, by attending events, and briefing companies and organizations.
The following summarizes some of the fruits of our labour:
 We have new brochures and a “marketing” banner stand for use with an awareness booth at sports events, company health and wellness fairs, fundraising campaigns, and other community events, etc.;
 We have been briefing organizations such as Legion 594 and the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP), etc. We plan to brief many more;
 We met with senior UNIFOR management to help promote our group to employees of large companies;
 We connected with Windsor Spitfires, LaSalle Vipers, and the Lakeshore Canadiens, who are happy to have us man an awareness booth at hockey games this fall; and
 We met with key Windsor Regional Hospital Directors and Urologists, who plan to make sure our promotional material is distributed to Urologists’ offices, and make our existence known to all newly diagnosed.

Spring Get-Together at the Legion Branch 594 – The spring get-together was well attended and enjoyed by all. Since then, Legion 594 has engaged a new caterer with a much improved menu. If all agree, we would hope to repeat the event in the spring 2023.

Hockey Game Visibility – As mentioned above, we will be manning an awareness booth at Windsor Spitfires, LaSalle Vipers, and Lakeshore Canadiens hockey games this fall. If you are interested in participating, please let us know.

Vista Wellness Fair Visibility – We will be manning an information and awareness booth at the Vista Wellness Fair, a day long event for the Team Members of the Vista Windsor printing plant on Advance Blvd. on Friday, September 23rd.

We would appreciate some help, as this is an all day event covering three shifts, 4:30am-6:30am; 9:00am-1:30pm; and 5:00pm-8:00pm. If you are interested in participating, please let us know as soon as possible.

More Community Awareness Events – Please let us know if you have ideas for us to promote ourselves at other sports events, company health and wellness fairs, fundraising campaigns, and other community events, etc. We need to get the word out and we need your help!!!

Golf Shirts and Baseball Caps – We are ordering Golf Shirts and Baseball Caps embroidered with our new logo. If you are interested in buying shirts or caps, please let us know. Shirts will cost approx. $25-$30 and hats $15-$20

Financial Manager and Webmaster – We are still looking for a financial manager and a Webmaster to relieve some workload off current SC members.  If you are interested, please let us know.

Membership and Volunteers – If you are aware of other potential new members, please let us know. We would also welcome women and others who are not survivors but who want to help. If there are other areas that you would like to volunteer for, please let us know. As our networking campaign gains momentum, we will need more horsepower. These are exciting times as we emerge from COVID stagnation!!!! Please get involved!!!!

Garry

Now that Spring has sprung, and summer fun is just around the corner, the Prostate Cancer Support Windsor/Essex Steering Committee (SC) would like to update you on our upcoming program and some of the initiatives that we are progressing with this year.

April Monthly Meeting – Our April meeting was excellent, thanks to a great presentation by Jenny McGregor from the Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation. 

 We were also very happy to be recognized as one of the top fundraising teams for the Foundation’s 2021 “Grow-On” fundraising campaign, which raised over $250,000 this year.  Our thanks to Jim Fair and Guy Jolin, who organized our team’s participation, and thank-you again to all who donated!!!!

Tuesday, May 10, 2022 Support Group Meeting

Please join us as we meet again, in person, for our May meeting at the Hospice.  We welcome our guest speaker Tim Brady, Pharmacist and Owner of Brady’s Drug Stores in Belle River, Essex and Tilbury, and currently the Chair of Board of Directors for the Ontario Pharmacists Association. Tim’s talk will cover topics such as the latest medicines related to Prostate Cancer, Incontinence, and Erectile Dysfunction.  As well, he’ll comment on the government of Ontario’s proposal to expand pharmacists’ scope of practice to assess and treat minor ailments.  Please be aware that COVID restrictions remain in place at the Hospice.

Saturday, June 18, 2022 Spring BBQ

This June we would like to try something different and special.  Rather than a traditional Tuesday meeting at the Hospice, we are planning a BBQ get-together at the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 594, 5030 Howard Ave., Oldcastle, ON N9H 0M3 on Saturday, June 18th @ 5 p.m.  This licenced venue turned out to be excellent for our Xmas party.  The current plan calls for Burgers/Fries (approx. $15), Sausages/Fries (appox $12.50), and Hotdogs/Fries (appox $10).  We want this event to include members, their families & friends of all ages, and special stakeholders such as our friends at Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH), Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation, Hospice, etc.  Please mark your calendars and let us know how many guests you plan to bring so that we can make sure the caterer is prepared.  Please also let us know other special stakeholders who we should consider inviting.

Participation in Community Events

This year we participated again in the “Play for a Cure” fundraising event at the Vollmer Centre.  This charity was able to raise over $400K in support of local cancer research; money raised from the event will go to the local Cancer Research Collaboration Fund.  Thanks to Don B., Dennis E., Jim F., Jim L., Garry L., Murray M., Phil S., Noel W., and Wayne Z. for volunteering your time!!! 

  We also provided volunteer support to the Hospice “Dove Pin” Campaign; the Hospice is pleased to announce that over $35K was raised to help support Hospice patients and families!  Thank-you to Jim & Mabsy Fair and Murray McLennan for devoting their time.  We look forward to participating in other future related events and campaigns.

Awareness Presentations to Organizations – Garry recently presented awareness briefings to the WRH Patient Family Advisory Council (PFAC) and the local chapter of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP).  These were very well received and he will soon be presenting to the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 594 and Canterbury College.  If you are aware of other organizations that may want a presentation, please let us know.

Golf Shirts and Baseball Caps –

We are investigating ordering Golf Shirts and Baseball Caps with our new logo.  If you are interested in buying shirts or caps, please let us know so we can judge how many to order.

Community Awareness Events Booth – It is our long-term plan to man an awareness booth at hockey games and other events.  In preparation, we are planning to have a professionally made banner stand and other associated “marketing” material.  Again, we would welcome any ideas; we also ask that you solicit potential donors to help fund these “marketing” aids.  In the future, we will be asking for volunteers to man the booth at events.

Peer Facilitator Training – Several of our SC members will be taking Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) Peer Facilitator training.  This training will equip peer facilitators with essential information and best practices to achieve high quality and sustainable peer support groups.

Financial Manager – We are still looking for a financial manager to relieve some workload off current SC members.  If you are interested, please let us know.

Webmaster – We are still looking for a webmaster to relieve some workload off current SC members.  If you are interested, please let us know.Garry

Garry W. Loeper, CD, MScEng, PCIP, PMP, PEng
e-mail: gwloeper@gmail.com
cell: (613) 913-4799

Please join us as we meet again, in person, for our May 10, 2022 Support Group Meeting at Hospice.

We welcome our guest speaker Tim Brady, Pharmacist and Owner of Brady’s Drug Stores in Belle River, Essex and Tilbury.

Tim’s talk will cover topics such as the latest medicines related to Prostate Cancer, Incontinence, and Erectile Dysfunction.  As well, he’ll comment on the government of Ontario’s proposal to expand pharmacists’ scope of practice to assess and treat minor ailments, such as pink eye, eczema, and urinary tract infections for patients across the province.

Most people will tell you Tim’s just a really nice guy who is easy to talk to. But he’s done a lot of other neat stuff too. He has been a practicing pharmacist since 2000. He has worked in hospitals, large pharmacy chains, and independent pharmacies in both Canada and the United States before opening Brady’s Drug Store in 2014. Tim is currently the Chair of Board of Directors for the Ontario Pharmacists Association, and is a Past President of the Essex County Pharmacists Association and former Ontario College of Pharmacy Accreditation Committee Member. Tim also sits on the Public Advisory Committee for St. Clair College’s Pharmacy Technician program and has presented previously to Prostate Cancer Support Windsor/Essex. And if that isn’t enough, he does national and provincial talks to pharmacy colleagues on patient-centred care.

Tim has received awards for Excellence in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Leadership from Ferris State University in Michigan, and was the Alzheimer Society of Windsor-Essex County’s Philanthropist of the Year in 2012. Tim was also part of the Rotary Vocational Training Team that same year, and travelled to East Timor to help set up rural pharmacies and drug distribution networks.

Please join us Tuesday, May 10, 2022, 7pm at Hospice of Windsor/Essex County, 6038 Empress St., Windsor, ON.

COVID Screening Forms – We are still required to fill out COVID screening forms prior to entry.  In order to expedite the process and reduce any bottleneck at the Hospice entrance, we have attached a blank COVID screening form.  We ask that you print, sign, and bring the form with you if you plan to attend.  Guy Jolin will also be at the door to help the Hospice staff.  Again, we continue to monitor the Hospice requirements and update you should they change.

Save the Date: Saturday, June 18th @ 5 p.m., Royal Canadian Legion Branch 594, 5030 Howard Ave., Oldcastle, ON N9H 0M3

Join us for a casual evening to kick off the summer season. Watch for further details to follow, along with news and updates on some of our recent activities.