A legacy to her family

Throughout the 87 years of her life, Blanche Green has developed a deep connection to Saskatchewan health care.

She remembers the strife that affected the community and the importance of accessible health care to her friends and family during the Medicare debates of the 1960s. She worked under Tommy Douglas, Ross Thatcher and other politicians who shaped the Saskatchewan healthcare system, with a passion that still lives on.

"My whole life I have followed health care issues," she says. "In 42 years of working for the government and volunteering in the community I saw a lot. I guess you can say health care is probably my number one interest.

Blanche’s interest took on a more personal note when her parents got sick, and an even greater significance when her sister Sally died in 1990.

"Sally was always active even though she had polio at the early age of 4 and was later burdened with high blood pressure, but she never considered herself handicapped. She was so busy, always doing something. She even drove a car at a time when most women didn’t even consider it," recalls Blanche fondly.

To honor her family and to give support to health care agencies, Blanche chose to work with a financial planner to provide support to charities with which she feels a close personal connection. "I guess I’ve always chosen the charities that have touched my family," she explains.

For example:

• She supports the Heart and Stroke Foundation because her sister, father and mother had heart and stroke problems.
  
  
• Because Sally had polio, Blanche donates to the Saskatchewan Abilities Council.
  
  
• She includes the Orange Home in Indian Head because her brother-in-law was on the board there.
  
  
• Blanche herself has glaucoma, so the Canadian National Institute for the Blind is one of her chosen charities.
  
  
• She supports the Canadian Cancer Society, the Arthritis Society and the Salvation Army.
  
  
• Blanche has also had the Hospitals of Regina Foundation in her will for some time now. "The hospitals form the ground work for all health care," Blanche says. She feels the hospitals are an important beneficiary, because they bring all her charities together. Everyone in her family including Blanche herself has required hospital care at one time. Her donation of a Gift of Securities came partly from herself and partly from a gift to her from Sally’s estate. Blanche was delighted to be able to donate this to go towards the 1st MRI in southern Saskatchewan.
  

"Good health care is so important, it helps the people in our community who need it most," she says. "I’ve been lucky in the support I’ve received and now I want to share that with others. My immediate family members are all gone so I want it to go where it will do the most good for Saskatchewan, today and in the future."