Freda Healey knows just how important a good hospital is.

When her husband Brent was being treated at Huntsville District Memorial Hospital for cancer in 2004 and 2005, she was very appreciative of the care he received.

“They couldn’t cure him,” she says, “but they sure kept him comfortable.”

The couple owned a farm in Caledonia for 25 years and raised their two children there. Their visits to Healey’s sister and her husband in Huntsville were so enjoyable that in 1983 they bought land north of town on Palette Lake.

Three years later they built a log home on the property with an eye on eventually retiring there. But first, they used it as a cottage for more than a decade.

“We spent a lot of weekends and holidays here,” she says.

They retired to Palette Lake in 1999 and were living an active and fulfilling life before Brent was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2004.

“This was his dream, really,” Healey says. “I’m glad he retired at 60 and we had those years here together.”

After her husband took sick, Healey spent many hours at Huntsville Hospital with him, and she was impressed by what she saw.

“He had wonderful care,” she says.

Healey also became aware of how much effort goes into the making hospital stays more bearable.

“It’s the extra things that make it cozy,” she says, adding, “And they don’t show up on their own.”

So, about six months after Brent’s death, when she felt ready to be out and about again, Healey decided to join the hospital auxiliary and do her part for others.

“Because of the care that Brent got, I decided it was payback time,” she explains.

Healey works several hours a week at Branches, the hospital gift shop. As second vice-chair of the auxiliary, she is in charge of membership this year, and she is also involved in the group’s many fundraisers, such as their upcoming fashion show and annual tag day.

But what she is best known for is her own personal fundraising initiative, which is making a difference one dollar at a time. Healey crochets and donates scrubbies, which are little round scrub pads for dishes and other household cleaning, to the gift shop.

“When my husband was sick, I spent a lot of time just waiting during doctors’ appointments and things,” she says. “So I’d make scrubbies and give them to the nurses or friends. Then, when I started working in the gift shop, I’d make them and give them to other auxiliary members. They convinced me to sell them in the gift shop and decided one dollar would be a fair price.”

She kept track up to 604 sold. “I must have sold at least 700 by now. It’s just a little thing, but it all adds up,” she says.

One time, a nurse dropped by the gift shop and bought a scrubby. She told Healey that a patient had given her one a few years before.

“We talked and it turned out I had given her the scrubby,” says Healey. “She remembered my husband clearly – even which bed he was in. That was nice.”

Unfortunately for Huntsville, Healey will soon be moving south. Her son is building a new home in Beamsville complete with a granny flat for her.

“I’m looking forward to seeing my grandchildren more,” she says. “I don’t know that I’m really ready to go, but it has just worked out this way.”

Healey will leave behind many happy memories and friends. And the fact that her scrubby tradition may be carried on by another auxiliary member makes her feel good.

Once she arrives in Beamsville, Healey expects to become a volunteer either at a nursing home or hospital near her son’s home.

“I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do, but I’ll definitely get involved,” she says. “Volunteering is very rewarding, but even if you can’t volunteer, supporting any fundraiser certainly can make a difference. Every dollar helps.”

Thanks to Vi Bullock for suggesting that Freda be profiled. If there is someone you’d like to see in this space, please call Paula at 789-5541 or e-mail  pboon@metrolandnorthmedia.com.