March 27, 2023

Global Team, Local Impact: Team 3 Wishes is Taking on the Bay Race Internationally to Support Patients here in Hamilton

Fundraising for St. Joe’s through Hamilton’s iconic Around the Bay Road Race has gone global!

While her fellow colleagues from St. Joe’s intensive care unit (ICU) laced up their sneakers for the race locally on Sunday, March 26, Dr. Michelle Kho, a physiotherapist who specializes in critical care at the Hospital, recently completed the race virtually all the way from Melbourne, Australia.

Dr. Kho took on the 5 km distance along with the compassionate team of care providers behind St. Joe’s world-renowned 3 Wishes Project. 3 Wishes collaborators and colleagues from Down Under, like Dr. Sue Berney from Austin Health, Professor Linda Denehy from the University of Melbourne, and Dr. Bronwen Connolly from Queen’s University in Belfast, Ireland, ran with Dr. Kho.

Dr. Michelle Kho with Dr. Sue Berney and Paddy (the wonder dog) after a training session on a Mornington Peninsula beach in Australia.

Together, the Canadian and global contingent of Team 3 Wishes are inviting the community to donate funds that will help to grant simple, yet deeply meaningful wishes to patients being cared for at St. Joe’s who are nearing the end of their lives. These wishes can be as simple as playing their favourite songs, creating personal mementos for family and friends, or welcoming a last visit from a beloved pet. They can also include more grand gestures, such as holding a wedding vow renewal ceremony in a patient’s room.

“We began the 3 Wishes Project 10 years ago to bring dignity to the dying process. These wishes celebrate lives well-lived and support those left behind in grief. They also help to forge connections among patients, their loved ones and their care providers,” Dr. Kho says. “As a team, our goal is to raise $20,000 to make the 3 Wishes Project available to more patients across St. Joe’s, and to continue to inspire a growing community of healthcare organizations that are committed to the 3 Wishes approach to end-of-life care worldwide.”

The 3 Wishes Project was founded by care providers in St. Joe’s ICU in 2013. Since then, these acts of kindness have become embedded in the culture of end-of-life care in more than 20 ICUs across North America. The project has also become a best practice in ICUs globally thanks to the work of our 3 Wishes Project team. To support their Bay Race fundraising, please visit: Team 3 Wishes Project.