Donations help expand Make a Memory Program

U.P. Home Health and Hospice’s Make a Memory Program has been a part of the organization for years, but do the success of Dancing with the Stars, it now has an opportunity to grow.

Previously, the Make a Memory Program had around $5,000 to make memories for hospice patients in Marquette County.

Dancing with the Stars raised $35,000 for the program.

“We’re currently in the process of doing a much bigger launch (with the Make a Memory program) with a brand new logo and marketing materials so that every new patient we have in our hospice program, I will personally sit down with them to create their mini–memory,” Make a Memory Coordinator Lindsay Hemmila said.

“Now we’re finding people call our office to say ‘Hey that dancing event you did, you raised a lot of money and I know you do good things for people, but what are those good things?’, so it really make us open our eyes and say ‘You know, we should really be sharing these stories more’.”

U.P. Home Health now has an opportunity to make memories, fro something small, like new hearing aids or a lift chair, to a bigger event like chartered fishing on Lake Superior.

“By being able to create these fantastic memories, it’s just so rewarding to be a part of that,” Hemmila said.  “Not only to see the enjoyment and happiness on people’s faces, but just the rewarding feeling that I personally get by knowing that because of me and my Memory Makers Team—and all the folks that make donations to the foundation—we’re making such a difference to people.”

U.P. Home Health and Hospice serves about 200 patients in Marquette County, and hopes to bring a special memory to all of them.  For more about the Make a Memory Program, you can visit U.P. Home Health and Hospice’s website.