The Citizen, 2001-10-31, Page 14PICTURE
YOUR
HEALTH
CAMPAI
2001
The Wingham and District Hospital Foundation is undertaking a $1.2 million
dollar fundraising campaign to assist in the purchase of new diagnostic imaging
equipment to replace the current outdated X-Ray machine. This vital piece of
equipment will:
• reduce radiation • improve patient care
• provide better imaging definition • help recruit more doctors
• speed treatment
IMPROVING OUR TECHNOLOGY -- HELP US HELP you
Contribute today by sending your donation to:
THE WINGHAM AND DISTRICT HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
270 Carling Terrace, Wingham, Ontario NOG 2W0
PAGE 14. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2001.
Hospital board discusses biohazardous threats
By Pat Livingston
Lucknow Sentinel
In light of the anthrax attacks in
the U.S. and a recent scare in
Walkerton, biohazardous threats
came up for discussion at last
Thursday's meeting of the Wingham
and District Hospital board of gover-
nors.
Board member Verna Steffler
asked if there were any policies in
By Pat Livingston
Lucknow Sentinel
With the introduction of the cour-
tesy counts education program, we
are "seeing changes in people," said
Mary Houghton, in her report from
' the leadership team to the Wingham
and District Hospital board of gover-
nors last Thursday.
The.; self-study • package was
designed for all staff in an effort to
provide tools for building excellent
customer relationships. The program
is in response to the Ontario Hospital
Association Report 2001, Patient
Satisfaction Survey. The hospital's
`Sick Kids'
cuts could
(Iffect area
By Pat Livingston
Lucknow Sentinel
"With the recent announced cut-
backs at London's 'Sick Kids', how
does that leave us here in the
future?" asked Jack Stafford, vice
chair of the Wingham and District
Hospital board of governors, when
the board met last Thursday. "Are
kids in rural areas at higher risk if
Sick Kids closes?"
In early October the London
Health Sciences Centre announced
sweeping cuts. Pediatric heart sur-
gery at Children's Hospital of
Western Ontario is one of 18 health
services to be phased out in London
over the next one to three years.
"Those announcements, on the
surface," said Dr. Marie Gear, chief
of staff, "seemed to affect rare con-
ditions, but they will insidiously
have a snowball effect."
As an example, if a baby is deliv-
ered at the Wingham hospital and
has heart complications, the child is
currently transported to London.
"London services have been sig-
nificantly eroded. We have a great
concern," she said. "Services are
being cut ... not enough nurses or
doctors. There will certainly be
implications for us here," said Dr.
Gear.
"It's a symptom of the whole
health care system."
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place if someone should walk into
the hospital with an unknown "pow-
der." In Walkerton last week, two
Mildmay post office employees
showed up at the hospital with a sus-
picious white powder substance. It
turned out to be non-toxic.
Site administrator Margret
Comack said there are policies and
mechanisms in place to deal with
such an incident.
However, the most important mes-
courtesy rate was slightly lower than
the previous report.
Inpatient Rehab Beds
Inpatient rehabilitation beds were
reopened in the hospital on Oct. 1
with a full range of services now
available with the return of the occu-
pational therapist.
Houghton reports that activity in
this area is high, with demand for
rehabilitation inpatient services from
surrounding partner hospitals.
The intake procedure was
redesigned to ensure that physicians
have the information they require to
assume the care of patients from
other hospitals.
Flu Vaccine Clinics
sage, Comack said, is to tell the
community to keep the substance
where it is. Do not transport it.
"The first priority" for anyone
receiving a suspicious package or
envelope, Dr. Marie Gear, chief of
staff, said, is to call the police or 9-
1-1. They. will notify the medical
officer of health.
Gear, who had been at a recent
meeting regarding emergency proce-
dures in Huron County, stressed the
Flu vaccine clinics for the whole
community started yesterday.
Further clinics are scheduled for
today (Oct. 31) 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m,
tomorrow (Nov. 1) 7:30 to a.m. to 5
p.m., and Friday (Nov. 2) 10 a.m. to
9 p.m. The clinics will be held in the
Terrace Room, first floor of the hos-
pital.
Standards of Practice
A manual containing the standards
of practice for each of the profes-
sions under the Regulated Health
Professions Act is now available as a
resource tool. The manual was pro-
duced by the professional practice
leaders in the Huron Perth Hospital
Partnership.
importance of "investigating each
incident where it occurs...decontam-
ination would proceed there."
At the county level, Gear said
there is a disaster plan in place, but
the county has no one trained in haz-
ardous chemical disposal or the
proper equipment.
Currently it's taking 24 hours to
get a substance identified, Gear said.
"As volumes increase - there's a lot
of whackos out there - that time may
Houghton's report says that "each
of us knows the standard for our own
profession. Now, we have a better
understanding of the standards
expected for other professionals who
work on the health care team."
Work Environments
Nurses across the hospital partner-
ship are in the process of completing
a survey designed to assess their
work environments against the
attributes of a quality practice set-
ting.
Survey results will be available in
January, at which time strategies will
be developed by all staff to address
some of the issues that will be iden-
tified.
increase."
Gear said presently there are no
cases of anthrax in Canada. "In an
overall sense, we are not concerned
about anthrax. The risk of people
(here) dying from influenza is
greater than dying from biohaz-
ardous chemicals," she said.
Recruiting
continues
at hospital
By Pat Livingston
Lucknow Sentinel
"We'll keep pushing forward,"
said Verna Steffler, as she gave a
brief physician recruitment report to
the Wingham and District Hospital
board of governors, last Thursday
night.
Steffler said three teams recently
went out on recruitment missions. "A
letter has gone out to those who
might be available for a visit," she
said.
"Dr. (Marie) Gear will now do a
followup - on a doctor talking to a
doctor perspective. It's a good idea
that Dr. Gear has agreed to corre-
spond (with them)," added Steffler.
Education program brings change, bd. told