Bruyère A Gift to The Community

by Dan Lalande

Bruyère is a comprehensive healthcare organization focused on compassionate care. This bilingual, Ottawa-based consortium oversees a series of sites devoted to different aspects of stroke and geriatric rehabilitation. Foremost is the Élisabeth Bruyère Hospital, the respected academic healthcare organization Newsweek recently named one of the best specialized hospitals in the world. There’s also The Bruyère Research Institute, a leader in diagnostic research, development and innovation, as well as the Bruyère Memory Program and the John and Jennifer Ruddy Geriatric Day Hospital.

Every year, thousands of Ottawans support Bruyère’s mission through various forms of philanthropy. Some give planned, pre-authorized payments on a monthly basis. Others make personal tributes in the form of in memoriam donations.

Joanne Kudakiewicz, Community Relations Manager for

the

Desjardins Financial Security

Independent Network, and Nik Lemieux, a strategic consultant with Mirabel Management, are dedicated, active members of the Bruyère board. As experienced holistic planners, they advise prospective donors on how to make charitable donations to the Bruyère Foundation part of one’s greater financial strategy. “We’ve always used a person-first approach when working with our clients,” explains Lemieux. “Through conversation, we help them to discover their goals. Then, we work with them to find strategic ways of enhancing those ends. One of our main services is ensuring that their plan or structure is tax efficient. That opens the door to philanthropic giving.”

It’s an option that far too many people don’t realize they have, explains Kudakiewicz. “It comes down to strategic philanthropy.

With proper financial planning, you can turn a donation of ten thousand into one hundred thousand dollars, all while streamlining your financial strategy to minimize your exposure to investment taxes and make a meaningful impact.” For Joanne, many of her clients do not know that philanthropy is an option for wealth management, and this simple conversation has been gamechanging.

Kudakiewicz is a former business owner and now a full-time holistic wealth and insurance advisor. As an experienced entrepreneur, she is uniquely positioned to understand the needs of her clients. After attending McGill University, Kudakeiwicz co-founded Recovery Matters, an Ottawa-based initiative that raises awareness about the financial impact of illness on business owners and their circle.

Lemieux has fronted Mirabel, her own company, since 2014. From its Dalhousie Street headquarters, Mirabel offers fiduciary and business guidance on a non-commission basis, a gesture aimed at proving that its interest lies not in itself but in the nonpartisan accommodation of the needs and desires of its clientele.

Lemieux’s stake in the beneficial work of Bruyère is personal. As she explains it, “I decided to join the Bruyère Foundation because it had such a direct impact on the community I was living and working in.” This eyewitness involvement reframed her approach to her practice, motivating her to educate her socially focused clients on the importance of Bruyère. As she informs them, it’s not simply an investment in a worthy cause— potentially, it’s an investment in their own future. “Preserving wealth and creating tax efficiencies is only one aspect of ensuring a client or individual will be able to execute their retirement plans successfully and securely. Knowing that there’s a place that assists with complex continuing care when those same clients might require it is even more assuring.” bruyere.org

As board members with deep financial intelligence and hands-on experience with charity initiatives, Kudakiewicz and Lemieux often help interested parties negotiate a living legacy, a gift awarded through one’s Will. Commonly, these kinds of donors either specify a dollar amount or arrange to leave a residual bequest—a portion of the remainder of their estate after other needs are met.

Contributions of this kind go a long way in helping to ensure the continued growth of Bruyère’s diverse services, each furthering the shared mission to provide rehabilitative, transitional, long-term, and palliative care with impact.