The Citizen, 2005-06-23, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2005.
At the Branch
Legion Comrades
now on the mend
Adieu
By Jo-Ann McDonald
Our sympathies arc extended to
Comrade Jason Breckenridge on the
•passing of his lather Dale.
On the mend arc Comrades Lloyd
Glanville and Maxine Adams who
have been under the weather We
wish them the best.
The Friday night supper of sweet
and sour meatballs was well
attended. This week is ham and
scalloped potatoes.
Don't forget the Seniors luncheon
on Tuesday.
Saturday euchre had 14 tables in
play The result was amazing with
three teams earning SO points apiece
for top prize: Vera Lindner and Vera
Ahrens, Edythe Beacom and
Geraldine Dale and Tom and Edeen
Sloan.
The low prize went to Alice
Keffer and Gail Smith. Lone hand
prizes went to Rita Flynn and Bush
Whittard.
There were three door prize
winners.
A crowd of over 150 enjoyed the
Branch fish fry on Saturday evening.
The cooking crew included Dale
Sauve. Dave and Kyle Stephenson,
Jim Alton, Jason Vandermeere and
George Adams.
The Sunday night dance had over
80 enjoy the music of Country
Motion. Dances are every two
weeks. Lunch is served at 9:45 p.m.
and door prizes are given out.
The decoration service for
Brussels Cemetery is this Sunday at
2 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend
this service where we remember
those in our community who have
passed away since last year’s
service.
The cemetery is always looking its
best, with lovely floral arrangements
on the gravestones. We welcome
Branch Padre Rev. Tom Wilson to
his first official Branch function as
well.
General meeting is next Tuesday.
June 28 at 8 p.m. The Branch is in
need of a treasurer to start
immediately. If interested call Jo-
Ann.
The community of Brussels and the congregation of Brussels United Church attended a party
in Rev. Joan Golden's honour. She and her husband Rev. Richard Golden (seated) are moving
to the London area. With them for the special day were Joan’s mother Dorothy Libold. and
children Steven and Pam Kirkpatrick. (Photo submitted)
■fir ’%■
*** - I
J Margret
* Comack
Wingham & District Hospital
If the newspaper
you are reading
was purchased at
a newsstand...
we have a deal
for you!
Future plans for the Wingham & District Hospital
By Margret Comack, CEO
Wingham and District Hospital
Many hospitals across the province are faced with
financial challenges in operating services and programs. In
addition, many of these hospitals, especially the summer
rural sites are functioning in facilities that are old, crowded
and non-consistent with current building standards. The
average age of any hospital is estimated to be 42 years.
Many structures, like the Wingham Hospital have been
built and added to over time, often without a future plan
lor how each addition affects the workflow for all of the
services. As hospital programs have shifted to more of an
ambulatory focus, there is a greater emphasis on meeting
the needs of ou'patients through day procedures and
specialist appointments.
As well, inpatient care has become complex with the
addition of new equipment and technology. All of these
changes affect current and future space requirements.
What worked well 50 years ago when much of the hospital
a as buili is not functional for our current and future
requiremems
At the Wingham and District Hospital, the management
team and board members have undertaken a
comprehensive process to identify the health service needs
of the community over the next 15 years. This was done
using Stats Canada data and other local sources. With our
team of consultants, we have been able to project health
needs of age groups as the population changes over the
coming decades. This was the first step in defining the
service volumes and the requirements for program
development to meet the expected community health
needs.
The Master Program, as the document is described by
the government, provides the space allocations (square
lootage) necessary for the hospital to provide these
services at current standards.
A Master Plan has been developed for the hospital and
approved by the hospital board. The Master Plan is a very
comprehensive document that details an assessment of
every aspect of the existing structure including
mechanical, electrical and structural components of the
building as well as parking and traffic flow for the site.
I he completed Master Plan provides for a detailed and
comprehensive process for redeveloping the existing
hospital on the existing site over the next two to three
lecades fhe redevelopment would occur in three to four
ihascs and involve a comprehensive process working with
the government and the community.
You might wonder why we would choose to work with
the existing site rather than build a brand new hospital.
The reasons are more political than financial and it is our
belief that we will be more successful and timely in
moving ahead with the proposed plan for the existing site
than we would be in lobbying for a new hospital on a new
site.
The government expects that communities will share 50
per cent of the cost of redevelopment projects. This will
lead us into a major fundraising process over the next two
years, with a phased approach being a more realistic
financial goal.
The incentive for developing this Master Plan stemmed
from several problem areas that we wanted to correct.
Some of these include:
• dual entrance to the hospital, where many people walk
through the emergency department, compromising
privacy and confidentiality of patients. This also requires
a duplication of staffing.
• a need to expand the ambulatory clinic space,
particularly the oncology day area
• crowding in the radiology area where we have installed
state-of-the-art digital imaging equipment
• a surgical program that is split across several locations
and one operating room that is housed in a structure built
in 1947
• an inpatient unit that has limited facility for isolation
care, too many patients per room, limited bathroom and
shower facilities and small patient rooms.
The Master Plan for the Wingham and District Hospital
will start with Phase 2 redevelopment of the building to
accommodate expansion for the four-core services,
emergency and ambulatory care area, diagnostic imaging
and the surgical program. We will also be able to provide
improvements to the second-floor inpatient area with
Phase 1.
We have detailed sketch plans for the proposed
redevelopment of the hospital which will be presented at
the annual general meeting of the Wingham and District
Hospital at 7 p.m. on June 16 in the North Huron Wescast
Complex.
We encourage community members who arc interested
in our plans to attend this meeting to learn more about the
hospital redevelopment, the rationale for the approach we
are taking and the next steps in the
process.
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