For its 20th anniversary, the South Cariboo Health Foundation is returning to its roots.
Rather than fundraising for a single piece of hospital equipment, the foundation plans to raise money to renovate the 100 Mile District General Hospital’s wound room. It’s an ambitious project fundraising co-ordinator Brenda Devine said and will require $50,000 to complete.
“The wound care room is not the greatest and it does need a few renovations,” Devine said. “We want to renovate and upgrade it and buy a few pieces of equipment that go along with wound care. It’s just going to be an upgrade for this whole thing and it’s going to be needed for sure.”
Devine said a lot of people in 100 Mile House use that room while receiving care for cuts, wounds or amputations. While the foundation doesn’t usually get involved with renovations because of the expense, she’s confident they’ll be able to pull this off.
Natalie Kulyk, the hospital’s director of clinical operations, said depending on the injury the room can be used by patients daily for wound therapy. The room was not originally intended for this use, Kulyk said, and at the moment the hospital is making the best of what it has.
“Ideally, it would be nice to augment the current space to function to the fullest to provide that service in the area,” Kulyk said. “The foundation has gotten behind us to do some minor renovations to create better flow for both the patients and the staff.”
In addition to adding more storage, Kulyk said the foundation plans to purchase a wound VAC for the ward. This device uses a vacuum to reduce the pressure on a wound helping it heal faster by reducing swelling and removing bacteria and fluid from the injury.
“They’re quite remarkable in what they do for wound therapy and healing.”
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Kulyk said she hopes the foundation stays strong in the years to come and that work of strengthening the hospital continues uninterrupted. She said she’s looking forward to this year’s Starry Nights Campaign’s light-up, set to take place after this year’s Santa Claus Parade on Nov. 18.
“Last year, (we) had a few travel nurses and they were all quite amazed at how extravagant really it is for a little tiny site to be lit up like that,” Kulyk said. “Not only is Starry Nights nice for the local team, it also kind of works to our benefit in the sense of advertising.”
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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