Transition to Betterness

Transition to Betterness (T2B) is a local charity and has had the opportunity to grow in Windsor-Essex County for over two decades with 20+ on-going programs that support patients and families in our local hospitals and healthcare facilities. With the help of our organization’s 300+ volunteers, we are able to provide these charitable services to our community daily. T2B receives no government funding and is supported by donations from generous donors and sponsors throughout the Windsor-Essex community. There are many ways to #GiveWhereYouLive, a few fundraising ideas are; corporate sponsorships, planned giving, hosting a third party event, memorials, wedding donations, youth or school fundraising initiatives and so much more. For some great fundraising ideas visit our Ways to Give page. For more information on volunteer opportunities head over to our Volunteer Opportunities page.

T2B Spokesperson Dave Hunter

Testimonials

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April Reed RN

Information
26 July 2021
Testimonials

These iPads have made connecting out hospital patients to their doctor appointments a success. These iPads allow us to use OTN (a secure encrypted network) and are the ideal bedside tool for connecting patient appointments when COVID concerns limit our ability to transfer patients between campuses or even to conference rooms. The iPads also allow us to send secure links to essential family or friends critical to the patients supportive care. Thank you.

- April Reed RN
Roxanne Gouin

Information
26 July 2021
Testimonials

T2B is the best! I work on the oncology floor as a housekeeper, and I get to see firsthand a patient's face light up after receiving comfort from T2B.

- Roxanne Gouin
Mary Rodgers

Information
26 July 2021
Testimonials

Thank you T2B. Your generous donations helped my family connect with our father when he was in the hospital and visitation was restricted. It was an essential lifeline for us to communicate with him. As an elderly man with hearing issues, phones were not an option in speaking with him. Communicating through the ipad provided a lot of confidence and comfort to him and to us. It also allowed him to communicate with out-of-town family, who may not have been able to speak to him using alternative means. Even after the pandemic is over, these ipads will still be amazing tools to help ease the feeling of loneliness to those in need during their hospital stay. We can't thank you enough for your donation.

- Mary Rodgers

Testimonials

Give Where You Live

100% of the donations we receive are used right here at home.

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Thank you to our sponsors

Contact Us

If you have any questions regarding T2B, your involvement or ways to get involved, we invite you to contact the T2B office at your convenience.

Transition to Betterness is located at:
3200 Deziel Drive, Unit 307
Windsor, Ontario N8W 5K8

Office Contact Information

Email: [email protected]
Office: 519-944-5143
Fax: 519-944-2590

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Transition to Betterness (T2B) is dedicated to providing comfort to patients and families impacted by a life-altering illness.

Board of Directors

Top row (left to right) Dan Palazzolo, Kelly Gosselin (past), Amber Hunter, Tania Sorge, Gary Klein, Dr. Tim Guthrie
Bottom row (left to right) Renee Laforet, Fo Abiad, Gloria Cavenago, Doris Lapico
Missing: Jennifer Shilson

Our Team

Top row (left to right) Nicoleta Burlea, Zishan Ali, Linda Santos
Bottom row (left to right) Sandra Presland, Amber Hunter, Kasey Martins

Our programs are there to provide tangible items so patients and their families feel more at home. People impacted include, but are not limited to, paediatric patients, oncology patients, palliative care patients, families of patients facing a life-altering illness or chronic disease and hospital staff. Our programs are a critical part of a patient and their family’s journey. Each program has been implemented as a direct response to the community’s needs and each is geared towards making patients feel as if they are in the comforts of their own home.

Comfort Cart

The Comfort Cart is focused on providing patients and visitors with comfort the best way we know how…COMFORT FOOD.

Connecting for Comfort (iPad)

The Connecting for Comfort Program provides patients and hospital staff access to all the available technology iPads provide.

Holiday Meal

Offers a complimentary meal for families in the palliative unit on holidays throughout the year in hopes of keeping family traditions alive.

Comfort Blanket

Comfort Blankets are warm fleece blankets for the patients at the hospital.

Hospitality Café

Provides snacks, water, coffee and tea for families with loved ones in palliative situations.

Parking Passes

Provides 3 monthly passes to patients families in the T2B Palliative Care Unit.

Adult Music and Medicine

Adult Music and Medicine Programs provides soothing music therapy sessions.

Concierge Program

The Concierge Program provides patients and visitors with emotional support and everyday essentials during their hospital stay.

Dr Michelle Prince Comfort Care Tote

The Tote Program helps engage and comfort patients during chemotherapy.

T2B Palliative Care Unit

The Stephanie & Barry Zekelman Wing has been refurbished to include a family kitchen, family lounge, reception, nurse’s station, and spacious hallways.

Hair to Share

The Hair to Share program sends donated hair to A Child's Voice Foundation where it's made into a wig for a child.

Room Refurbishment

One of the main visions of T2B is creating a comfortable and welcoming environment for the patients and families through our first program, room refurbishments.

T2B Greenhouse

The Stephanie & Barry Zekelman Wing has been refurbished to include a family kitchen, family lounge, reception, nurse’s station, and spacious hallways.

T2B Healing Garden

This incredible two-phase Capital Campaign is located at Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare on Prince Road. Check back occasionally for updates on the project.

TV Services

Complimentary TV services allow patients and visitors to keep busy while staying at the hospital.

Slushie Machine

The Slushie Machine is located in the paediatric kitchenette so that children and their families can have something refreshing after surgery or treatment.

Paediatric Nutrition Room

The room offers snacks 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the families and patients of this unit.

Back the Pack

Provides paediatric oncology patients with a backpack filled with toys to take with them to treatments.

Paediatric Comfort Blanket

Handmade colourful youth-size blankets for the paediatric patients at the hospital.

T2B Art Cart

The Art Cart allows paediatric patients to partake in art therapy from their bedside.

Kids Kicking Cancer

Trained black belt martial artists teach breathing, visualization, and relaxation techniques, in addition to traditional martial arts.

Paediatric Oncology Teaching Supplies

This program promotes education in dealing with treatment and new events, such as hair loss for example.

Ronald McDonald House Windsor

TT2B was excited to partake in Canada's first Ronald McDonald House Within a Hospital right here in Windsor!

Paediatric Art & Music Therapy

Art & Music Therapy gives children a voice to connect with a therapist and share their anxieties, feelings and thoughts.

For a full list of programs, please visit t2b.ca/ongoing-programs.

T2B Stories

The Polewski's

Shellie Polewski and her husband Ed were always avid supporters of the Transition to Betterness (T2B) organization. They attended annual fundraisers with their children and families and donated because they saw the difference their donations made when Ed’s mother was in a T2B room. These donations don’t just float around – they directly impact the community.

Suddenly, at a young age, Ed was stricken with cancer and needed constant in-hospital care. Being in the T2B room at Metropolitan Hospital allowed Ed to have more of a home environment while granting him privacy and dignity during his illness. Shellie says that the T2B programs are fundamentally founded on kindness and love. They allowed the Polewski's to spend time as a family and say goodbye to Ed in a private and beautiful sort of way.

Mason Macri

While Mason Macri’s cancer treatments took him to hospitals across North America, his parents Chantelle Bacon and Iain Macri credit T2B with helping make his local hospital stays positive and comfortable. “He always looked forward to having a slushie and he loved the craft supply cart,” says Chantelle of her son, who lost his life to Rhabdomyosarcoma in 2016 at the age of four. “

“We really wanted to thank T2B for everything they’ve done and for being such an inspiration for us as a charity,” says Chantelle. “They have been absolutely incredible throughout our journey and we’re so lucky to have partners like them in our community.”

Paul Germanese

After losing both his parents to cancer within seven months, Paul Germanese credits T2B with giving his family comfort and consistency during their many hospital visits. For Germanese, it was all the little things that made a big difference throughout such a difficult time.

Those things can really lift a person up: the parking passes, snacks, being able to watch a Tigers game with my dad, or just sitting in comfort with my mother,” explains Germanese. “T2B’s family liaison offered familiarity every time we were there. Our one constant was that we knew we were going to be taken care of.”

Aliya Jasey

Aliya began treatments when she was four and stretched over three years. As scary as the experience was for parents Jasmine and Greg, they had to make normal of a very abnormal situation. This is where Transition to Betterness (T2B)’s paediatric programs made the difference.

Although Aliya needed chemotherapy and transfusions in order to survive, T2B also recognized that a child needs more than treatments to make up their life. Since Aliya couldn’t go into the hospital’s playroom, the T2B staff would bring her brand-new sterile toys, slushies and snacks, and her favourite thing of all: the art cart.

Bonnie Petric

When Bonnie was diagnosed with cancer, Tasha thought they had 10 months together, but she took a turn after the first week.

Even one T2B program made all the difference for Tasha and her family. When Bonnie passed, Tasha dedicated a soccer tournament to her mom and made sure the money was donated to T2B.

“T2B made such a big impact on those last days and final hours for my mom,” Tasha says. “She would be so thrilled about the partnership.”

Jonathan & Amy Allison

As Jonathan Allison’s grandfather was battling cancer in 2016, Jonathan, his wife Amy, and their large extended family rushed to gather by his bedside.

AFortunately, they learned of a T2B Family Room located on the same floor their grandfather was staying. Having use of the room allowed them to remain comfortably close by over the course of his two weeks in the palliative unit at Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare.

“We took great comfort in being able to use that space,” says Amy. “There was a kitchen, a Comfort Cart and it was beautifully decorated. It was a calming room for us to be together and support one another.”

“I have been a supporter of T2B right from the beginning when hospital rooms were dreary and there was no such thing as 'comfort stations'. Back then and even more now, as we fear the ever-growing affects of cancer, by giving back I have always hoped that it made the patient's recovery or days that much better.”

Glen Muir
RE/MAX Preferred Realty Ltd. Brokerage

"Transition to Betterness has opened our eyes, provided us with a different perspective on things & even made us cry with how amazing they truly are! Knowing that our hard work was able to raise $650 leaves us speechless, but at the end of the day it’s not really about the monetary amount that’s given, it’s about the help that you provided, even something simple as a hug can change someone’s life.

Planning our event was extremely stressful but also equally as rewarding. To everyone who helped, donated, or even spread the word of our event we thank you so much, it wouldn’t of have been a success without you.”

St. Clair College Event Planning and Marketing Program

"Giving back to T2B has become not only one of my favorite things to experience but has become my personal duty after what they have provided for me and my family during a time of need. I give back to those who are currently going through a tough time with a loved one. I give back to those who unfortunately will go through a tough time with a loved one. I give back so our community can be taken care of when they need taken care of!"

Paul Germanese - Royal Lepage Binder - AW4U

“T2B is a Local grass roots organization in our community. Their programs have an immediate impact on those in need, and the comfort they provide, is felt by every family in our region”

Rob Petroni
Business Manager - LiUNA!625

“I want to make kids happy when they are sad and sick."

Landon Lauer - 3 years old

“Seeing a young child suffer from an illness is heart-wrenching. With the Back the Pack Program, we provide children with items tailored to their interests and age. We hope that this program brings a little more joy to every child while they undergo their brave journey toward recovery.”

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April Reed RN

Roxanne Gouin

Mary Rodgers

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