St. Joseph's Hospital News

St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation is pleased to announce an exciting program that will benefit the new families in our community. International Paper Industries (IPI) - the Curbside recycling collection for the City of Courtenay and the town of Comox have initiated a revenue sharing program with St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation. Fifty percent of all proceeds from refundable deposit containers that they collect through these two municipalities curbside recycling program will be directed to purchase equipment for the Obstetrics Department at St. Joseph's Hospital. The collection includes all plastic and aluminum containers. Glass bottles are not included. This revenue sharing proposition with support from both municipalities hopes to generate $16,000 over 2 years for the purchase of equipment for the Obstetrics Department at St. Joseph's.

If you would like to contribute to this cause please leave your refundable containers at curbside for IPI to pick-up or you can also make a donation through St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation.

Pictured in the photo:

Mary Robertson – Nurse Manager Maternal Child Care at St. Joseph's Greg Phelps, Mayor – City of Courtenay Paul Ives, Mayor of Comox Ed Walsh- General Manager International Paper Industries and Rob Gagnon- North Island Operations Manager International Paper Industries Michael Pontus- President & CEO St. Joseph's Hospital, Sean Doran – President Hospital Sean Doran – President of St. Joseph's General Hospital Foundation Foundation, Lynn Dashkewytch – Executive Director St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation

The RBC Comox Valley Branch celebrated its 100th anniversary this week.

It observed the milestone by giving back to the community, presenting a $25,000-cheque to the St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation Tuesday.

The $25,000 will go toward the PARC (Physical Activation and Recreation Centre) project at The Views at St. Joseph’s to create more space for physical activity and exercise.

"Whenever we have a milestone of a branch, we always donate $25,000 to a local hospital," said Linden Loughridge, RBC’s manager of client care. “It’s a way for our foundation to give a little bit more than we usually do.”

The RBC Foundation has donated more than $400,000 to the St. Joseph’s General Hospital Foundation, contributing to almost every department in the hospital.

The Views at St. Joseph’s — formerly called the Extended Care Unit — houses 125 residents within two units, Eagleview and Oceanview. The Views used to house residents who were considered extended care but is now home to residents with complex care needs, according to a press release from the St. Joseph’s General Hospital Foundation. “This means that people who come to live at The Views have a wide variety of activity levels,” it stated.

More than 40 of the residents walk independently or with assistance and do not require wheelchairs for mobility, while more than 33 additional residents are self-mobile in their wheelchairs, according to the foundation. “Keeping our residents happy, active and mobile is important to us,” it stated. The challenge is space, and The Views needs space for more people to do more exercise and more activity. Plans for enlarging the activation space have already started thanks to donations from the Courtenay and Comox Legions.

The donations enabled an architectural plan, design drawings and cost proposals, but more funding is needed to complete the project, which is expected to cost about $149,000. To raise money, the St. Joseph’s General Hospital Foundation is embarking on a Buy A Brick campaign.

To learn more about how to support the PARC at The Views initiative, contact rehabilitation assistant Jill Nelson at 250-339- 1530.

The hospital foundation is also looking for building supply donations.

writer@comoxvalleyrecord.com

Seven women raised $29,798 for Palliative Care renovations at St. Joseph's in the "Dare to go Bare for Palliative Care" Campaign which culminated in a head shaving ceremony in the Lobby of the Hospital. From left: Susan Garcia, Barb Dalton, Janice Kilgour, Janice Wagemann, Toni Lamb, Dr. Barb Fehlau and Jessica Giesbrecht have been raising money since May. 546 people donated to the campaign, which raised almost double their goal of $15,000. Dr. Fehlau, a family physician and palliative care consultant, has been championing for a quiet and comfortable area in the hospital equipped for palliative patients to receive pain and symptom management for years. "I see us shaving our heads as a real act of solidarity. It expresses our commitment to this work, and so that is why I'm so proud to stand here today with these women" expressed Fehlau. Leading up to this headshaving event the Hospital Foundation had raised $185,000 for Palliative Care. The goal is to raise the $265,000 needed to equip and renovate the 6 rooms needed by March 2009 when the renovation is planned to start.

The Soroptimist Club of Courtenay recently presented a cheque for $16,000 to St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation. These proceeds will fund much needed medical equipment including 2 syringe infusion pumps and a modular micro drill for Orthopedic procedures. The newly purchased specialized infusion pumps are needed for critically ill patients having surgery. They allow the anesthetists to closely titrate the medication in a minute amount. The pumps are used to provide accurate and continuous flow for precise delivery of IV medication in critical medical care cases. These would include patients that are medically unstable, trauma cases and elderly patients. These new pumps allow up to 16 different medications to be infused, replacing the older technology which could only administer 2-3 different kinds of medication.