The South Cariboo Health Foundation’s Starry Nights campaign chalked up another successful year, raising over $200,000 for 100 Mile District General Hospital.
Brenda Devine, the foundation’s fundraising coordinator, said she was overwhelmed by the community’s generosity. The total – double the foundation’s initial goal of $100,000- will be used to renovate the hospital’s wound clinic and purchase equipment for it.
“This has been amazing, it blew me away. I knew we were getting close when we got to mid-December, and some major money came in that put us over the top,” Devine said. “We’re just so grateful the community saw what we were doing is important.”
Devine said roughly 400 people a month use the wound care clinic and the funding will go a long way to supporting ambulatory and wound care. The foundation has already bought three VAC systems, each valued at $23,000, which wound care nurse Jean Meger said have been a welcome addition.
A VAC machine helps wound victims heal by sucking the air and moisture away from a wound. Nurses apply foam to the wound and wrap it before using the machine to compress the dressing around the wound.
“It provides VAC therapy and VAC therapy is non-invasive active therapy that combines localized negative pressure and moist wound healing,” Meger said. “So what it does is it speeds up healing time but also decreases the amount of time a patient has to come to the hospital.”
The hospital previously had to rent VAC machines from Kinetic Concepts Inc., which cost them thousands of dollars a year. Meger said the new machines will allow more people to use the clinic each day and enhance the care they receive.
Kathy Munroe, manager of acute care, agreed the devices will save her department a lot of money. She is also looking forward to the renovations of the clinic, noting it still has its original floor from when the hospital opened in 1966.
“This is going to be huge for our clients who come into the wound care clinic. The renovation is going to create a much better atmosphere. I always feel the atmosphere is part of healing so I’m very excited,” Munroe said.
“We’ll put in new flooring, new lights, a new procedure light, new paint and new storage space. The whole room is going to look different.”
Munroe said she was thrilled to have the money, saying the projects have been in the works for a while. Any money left over will be reinvested into other parts of the hospital.
“For this community to put that much towards us, it actually kind of almost brings me to tears how supported we are.”
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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