GNP board chair in running for minister’s award

Numerous organizations and residents have vouched for the nomination of a Sundre resident for a 2018 Minister’s Seniors Service Award.

Dolores Dercach, who relocated to town from Calgary following her and her husband John’s retirement about 10 years ago, said during an interview last week that she was awed and honoured by the staunch, outspoken support.

“I’ve rarely in my life been left speechless, but I was speechless,” said Dercach, recalling a flood of emotions when she was informed about her nomination by Mountain View County councillor Angela Aalbers during a recent Greenwood Neighbourhood Place board meeting.

“It took a while to sink in,” she said.

Throughout her career, Dercach worked as a recreation therapist in mental health for many years, eventually retiring from the Rockyview General Hospital’s in-patient unit.

When a few years following her arrival in Sundre the community experienced a number of deaths by suicide, there was a call to action that she felt compelled to answer.

“Mental health is right up my alley,” she said, adding a forum was held to brainstorm information and ideas to consider options to help make the community stronger as well as more vibrant and resilient, eventually leading to the now-annual Walk in Memory Walk for Hope.

“It fit well with who I am, my core values, my beliefs, and how important I think mental health is.”

So when Dercach was invited to join the GNP board of directors — which she now chairs — she did not for a moment hesitate to volunteer her time and expertise.

“I really believe in what GNP does and what the society stands for,” she said, adding she has loved being involved.

Volunteering in her capacity not only gives her energy but also provides a sense of greater purpose by contributing back.

“I hope that I make a difference within the community.”

There are three celebrations to recognize the nominees planned in Red Deer, Edmonton as well as Calgary on Aug. 8-10.

Dercach said she wants to attend the ones in Red Deer and Calgary and hopes to reconnect with friends she does not frequently get to see. At the events, nominees will be introduced and called forward to accept a certificate. Award recipients will be selected and notified later this month, and a ceremony will be held at Government House in Edmonton this fall.

“Volunteer work enriches lives and communities and I commend volunteers, like you, who selflessly give their time to provide services and supports to seniors and their community,” reads a letter to Dercach signed by Neil McDonald, assistant deputy minister for the seniors services division.

Letters of support for her nomination were submitted by the following: the Town of Sundre; Mountain View County; Pat Toone, the Sundre GNP board’s former chair and current treasurer; Shoshannah Brechtel, acting coordinator for the Sundre coordinated community response against elder abuse; Jaime Marr, Sundre Pioneer Village Museum executive director; Greg Stopanski, exercise specialist for Peaks to Prairies Primary Care Network; and Sundre resident Kim Free.

Among the many initiatives she has dedicated her time to are the annual Walk in Memory Walk for Hope as well as seniors' physical and mental health with the urban walking poles program through GNP.

“I remember her and I both shedding a tear or two while talking about the effects of depression and suicide on those in our community,” wrote Free in a letter to the minister.

“She was willing to put in an amazing amount of effort and was always reminding the rest of us on the committee that all of our hard work was worth it, even if all of our efforts only helped one person…passion, dedication, commitment, kindness — these are all words that come to mind when I think of Dolores.”