Pitching in

County pledges its share for a new hospital

Briar Boyce of the hospital foundation leads a tour of Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital.County pledges its share for a new hospital

The hospital in Picton has served the County well over the years. Since it opened its doors in 1959, the County’s second hospital has been home to memories both happy and sad. It has seen the birth and death of its residents. But the time to retire is coming.

The current building, which replaced the original Prince Edward County Hospital built in 1918, does not have the infrastructure to handle the demands of a modern rural hospital. Its electrical system and its physical structure can’t support the needs of a small hospital in 2015.

It’s much bigger than it should be, too. And with half the rooms converted to offices as the number of beds have been reduced, the current hospital has become inefficient.

The County still needs a hospital, though. That much is clear and the minister of Health and Long Term Care agrees. The trouble is the backlog for a new hospital is at least a decade long. And while some worry they won’t live to see a new hospital open its doors in Picton, the uphill battle for its creation has begun.

The Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation (hospital foundation), working with QHC and the South East LHIN, have brought a proposal to the Ministry. The County hospital is now in the queue.

The proposal for the new hospital envisions it behind the McFarland Home, just east of the current hospital. It will have 12-15 beds, 24-hour emergency room care and several vital diagnostic clinics. It will also feature the mandatory new features: rooms with private bathrooms and an isolation chamber to meet standards of sanitation and disease control.

There’s a catch, though. The proposal is dependent on a sizeable contribution from the community. In this case, $12 million dollars, about $500 for each resident of the County.

Leo Finnegan is the chair of the hospital foundation board.

“We haven’t started to fundraise. Until we know if we get the go-ahead. Then we would go into fundraising mode and start working on the fundraising,” he says. “But I think we can do it.”

The foundations is determined to achieve that amount over the next decade. They’re well on their way: They’ve already had a pledge of $1 million from a private donor, and the hospital auxiliary has pledged to raise another $1 million.

Last week they got a little bit closer, with a committee of council agreeing to give a letter of intent to the foundation committing $1.25 million dollars over the next 10 years.

It’s money the County has already been contributing to healthcare outside its borders, including the cancer care clinic in Kingston, recognizing the service that hospital provides to County residents. Now, with that pledge complete, this annual contribution will go toward the much-needed new building, put in a trust until the County has raised the full amount and the time to build arrives.

The vote at the committee to approve the letter passed almost unanimously. The letter must be approved at a subsequent council meeting, and the money itself will be reapproved annually at budget time. Only councillor Jamie Forrester, concerned over the exact wording of the letter, voted against its approval.

“This has been a wonderful little community hospital,” says Briar Boyce, PECMHF’s communications coordinator. “But it’s been around for several decades. It’s old and tired, and a brand new hospital would just serve the community so much better.”

“We’re almost an island, we’re separated from the mainland,” says Finnegan. “We need a hospital here in Picton.”