Huron Expositor, 2009-05-06, Page 11News
The Huron Expositor • May 6, 2009 Page 11
Seaforth Community Development Trust planning to invest
in recruitment gf emergency nurses for Seaforth hospital
Susan Hendertmark
4111111111/1111110
After putting $48,703 towards lo-
cal healthcare projects in 2008, the
Seaforth Community Development
Trust is planning to put even more
investment into "Health on the Hill"
this year, says trust chair Joe Stef-
fler.
"We're concerned about the viabil-
ity of our hospital. We've put a lot
of money towards the recruitment
and retention of doctors and now we
want to branch off to attract nurses.
We believe we can recruit nurses to.
this area," he says.
While Steffler says he's not ready
to provide details of a recruitment
plan for nurses to the Seaforth area,
he says the trust will be announcing
"quite an aggressive plan" in about
six weeks.
With the main focus of finding
emergency department nurses to re-
open Seaforth's ER 24 hours a day,
Steffler says the development trust
wants to invest in a recruitment plan
to bring nurses directly to Seaforth,
not towards all four hospitals in the
Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance.
"Our mandate is for the better-
ment and economic development of
Seaforth. l think there are .nurses
there for Seaforth if we go looking for
them," he said.
Steffler said the development
trust wants to continue letting lo-
cal healthcare workers know they
are appreciated as a Valentine's Day
present for all the staff at Seaforth
hospital conveyed a few months ago.
Of the $48,703 the, development
trust donated to healthcare proj-
ects in 2008; $38,860 went towards
Healthkick Huron and $9,842 went
towards doctor recruitment and re-
tention.
In 2009, $7,940
has gone towards
Healthkick Hu -
ron and the Valentine's Day gift to
staff at Seaforth Community Hospi-
tal.
He says much more will be going
towards recruitment this year.
"We're not happy with what we're
seeing with the recruitment of nurs-
es in Seaforth and we're hoping that
if we find nurses for Seaforth, they'll
(the HPHA will) have the courtesy to
hire them," he says.
Steffler says the personal experi-
ence of his wife Lin having a heart
attack just before the hospital found
it necessary to close its ER overnight
fueled his desire to work towards
helping to recruit nurses.
"Lin might not be here if we'd wait-
ed until morning to, go to the hospi-
tal," he says.
Other spending in 2008 includ-
ed $8,338 towards an information
booth on Seaforth's Main Street and
hanging baskets of flowers on Main
Street.
"A viable Main Street is also good
for Seaforth," says Steffler.
The development trust's financial
statement shows that it's made a to-
tal of $410,717.91 in donations since
its inception,$289,287.55 of which
went towards healthcare -related
projects.
"We're pretty damned proud of that
statement. We started out with $1.4
million and now we own two build-
ings and are worth over $3 million,"
says Steffler.
"Not too many other organizations
can boast that kind of financial state-
ment and give $400,000 to boot. And,
we're going to continue with wise in-
vestments," he says.
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