Big plans

Visitors to Sandbanks Summer Village during SummerAid on Saturday could ride in a helicopter over the East Lake resort.

Hospital Foundation seeks to grow through events

The Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation raises about $750,000 each year from this community— but it believes it can do even better. The Foundation has agreed to retain the services of an event planner to develop, nurture and stage fundraising galas, tournaments and shows to stimulate greater giving toward the Picton and Belleville hospitals.

Foundation member Leo Finnegan explained that Trenton Memorial Hospital Foundation netted about $340,000 last year in a pair of events: a gala ball and a golf tournament. He said Foundation directors agreed to hire Trenton’s event planner part time to help do the same in the County.

These ambitions were presented as part of the Foundation’s first annual public information meeting—an initiative spearheaded last year by former director Garth Manning.

The gathering at the Old Town Hall in Picton on Thursday received a copy of the Foundation’s financial statements and an update to its current campaign to raise funds for a new ultrasound machine and a new digital mammography scanner for Prince Edward County Memorial.

Radio announcer Jack Miller awards one of an array of prizes to five year old Avery McCaugherty of Kingston as part of Sandbanks Summer Village’s SummerAid event to raise funds for the hospital foundation.

So far the Foundation has raised two-thirds of its goal of $750,000 for this campaign. The hospital has ordered the ultrasound device and Foundation Chair Larry Matheson told the gathering he hoped to soon advise QHC to order a new mammography unit as well.

The Foundation’s money manager, Lisa Thompson of RBC Dominion Securities, managed to eke out a two per cent net return last year despite a difficult investment marketplace in 2011.

QHC head Mary Clare Egberts told the gathering that it had earned high marks from an accreditation team that recently spent a week in its hospitals examining procedures, processes, documentation and overall effectiveness of staff and management in providing a safe, clean and effective hospital service.

“They noted in particular our infection control staff training and protocols,” commented Egberts.

She noted that staff had been anxious leading up to the planned examination that rates the hospital against 2,100 measures.

“I told them ‘all the hard work is done…now you just have to showcase your achievements,’” said Egberts. “Our results came in at 95 per cent. Our quality is excellent.”

Egberts also remains upbeat about the prospect of a new hospital in Picton—an optimism based Health Minister Deb Matthews’s interest in the proposed model.

“We are keeping her up-to-date with our plans,” said Egberts. “It is a unique way of delivering health care in rural communities and one that is in keeping with Ontario’s health care action plan.”

The pre-capital business plan has been submitted to the SouthEast LHIN, which has been supportive of the proposed model, and to ministry officials who, while intrigued, are cautious when presented with something new—particularly in an era of financial restraint.

Now the waiting begins.

Egberts noted that there is no way to know when they will hear, or indeed what they will hear, from the Ministry. If the signal is positive, the plan will be refined and submitted for funding. Egberts reminded the gathering that a new hospital facility was, even in an optimistic scenario, still years away.

On Saturday, Sandbanks Summer Village hosted its first SummerAid event, featuring music, food, activities and prizes at the East Lake resort. More than $10,000 was available to be won on Saturday. The resort owners, Cottage Advisors of Canada, committed an addition $1,000 toward the Foundation on top of the net proceeds raised.