By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
Searching for the “X” that marks the spot for buried treasure that is hospice care, HomeCare Matters Home Health and Hospice held its 19th annual Celebrity Waiter Dinner and Auction Friday night.
With past events featuring a theme of old-timey baseball, and last year’s event a casino, this year the Trillium Event Center in Bucyrus was converted into a pirate ship for the evening. Celebrity waiters were dressed as pirates serving up the dinner.
HomeCare Matters Home Health and Hospice Executive Director Bertha Maglott explained where the hospice service comes up with its themes for the Celebrity Waiter Dinner and Auction.
“Essentially, we try to come up with ideas that would be fun to work with, but then as we do that then we try to come up with a way that weaves into our business. So, tonight with our pirate theme and treasure island we were thinking well we are the treasure of healthcare for Crawford County, and so that is how that came about,” Maglott said. “But the biggest thing is we try to have fun with it.”
While the event itself is fun and games, what the proceeds of the event covers is quite serious. Proceeds help cover costs for families who may be uninsured, or simply can’t afford the services offered by HomeCare Matters.
“We primarily say that it is for hospice patients, and it is for individuals who don’t have insurance or maybe their insurance has a high deductible, or high co-payments, and the families can’t afford that. So, we do that to supplement so that we don’t have to turn anyone away from getting needed services,” Maglottsaid.
“The neat thing about hospice care is the individual needs a prognosis of six months or less, but with that hospice is very holistic,” she continued. “We are not only responsible for providing nursing care, personal care, with a home health aide. We also provide physical therapy, speech therapy, or occupational therapy. We also have a chaplain and volunteers and we also provide medications for any of the symptom might have.”
Maglott also noted that their services for the patient’s family doesn’t end after the passing of the patient, but they continue to stay in contact with the family for 13 months providing services such as grief classes.
The event began at 6:30 with dinner catered by Special Occasions Catering. While dinner was being served other fundraisers were also taking place. Those fundraisers included a silent auction, tip jars for the waiters, a 50/50 raffle, and a photo booth where you could have your picture taken with your first mate.
The main event of the evening was the live auction with auctioneer Mark Yosick making attendees bid or walk the plank. Items up for bid at this year’s live auction included an OSU football signed by Buckeye legends Archie Griffin and Paul Warfield, a four-pack of Cleveland Indians tickets, a pirate light, and numerous other treasures.