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Town, county and hospital take long-view on upgrades

With the finances simply not there to replace Stettler’s aging hospital with a new building and no long-term plan

With the finances simply not there to replace Stettler’s aging hospital with a new building and no long-term plan being handed down by Alberta Health Services, the planning for the hospital’s future has found itself in the hands of the Stettler Health Services Foundation (SHSF) and the town and county, which help fund the medical site.

As hospitals in surrounding communities reduce emergency services due to lower volumes, the volume increases at Stettler hospital, explained Leona Thorogood, chair of SHSF.

While this is not good for the other communities, it is good for Stettler Hospital, Thorogood explained, as it means that the volume remains high enough to hold onto or even increase the services offered at the Stettler site.

“We know we’re not going to get a new hospital, not with the stress in the cities,” Thorogood said.

The level and quality of services offered at the Stettler hospital is in part due to the generosity of the communities the hospital serves, with hundreds of thousands of dollars coming in annually from events like the Festival of Lights or one-time donations such as legacy bequeaths. The money goes towards the purchase of equipment meant to make life easier and more comfortable not only for patients, but for the nurses and doctors who tend to the patients.

An example of those types of upgrades are bed lifts, which help lift patients so as to not hurt them, or strain the nurses helping them.

“We’re lucky when we receive a legacy bequeath,” Thorogood said. “Now we have to decide what we do with it so it doesn’t disappear.”

As part of this plan, the foundation, along with the town and county, put up $16,000 to have a study done. The study’s purpose was to determine what upgrades and repairs would be necessary to allow the hospital to continue to function well, reduce maintenance costs, and expand.

The first item highlighted by the report was the operating rooms, of which there are two. While OR 1 is used frequently enough, the second OR was a backup room which, if interest is high enough, could become more frequently trafficked.

“There are some glaring deficiencies,” Thorogood admitted.

Those deficiencies in OR 1 were rectified when the room was recently upgraded, but included problems like not enough light and outdated equipment.

OR 2, while benefiting from some of the equipment replaced in OR 1, has not yet been upgraded.

“We have doctors interested in coming to the community, interested in accessing these operating rooms for procedures, so the second room is now more attractive,” Thorogood said.

Another matter highlighted by the report was the maternity unit’s layout.

Right now, a mother-to-be will labour to deliver her baby in the labour suite, but as the baby is ready to greet the world, the mother will be transferred, either on her own feet or in a wheelchair, to the operating room where the baby would be delivered.

With upgrades, there would be a delivery suite adjacent to the labour suites, so mothers wouldn’t have to travel the whole hospital to deliver the baby.

“With so many babies being born here, this isn’t effective,” Thorogood said. Creating a more unified area where mothers don’t have to traverse much of the hospital to deliver a baby is high on the list of goals.

Also a concern is the size of the emergency department. The trauma rooms there, though adequately sized in the 1960s when the hospital was built, are simply too small for today’s equipment.

Enlarging these rooms would allow for better trauma treatment, Thorogood noted.

The SHSF is several months into an 18-month fundraising campaign, which started in October 2014.

A day-surgery suite, for procedures like endoscopies, would allow for day-patients to easily have procedures done at the hospital, instead of tying up space in the emergency department, which is what happens at present.

The nurse’s station in the emergency department, designed to handle a paper system, is also needing upgrades as it doesn’t well fit today’s electronic equipment. A new call system for nurses is also in the works.

“I don’t want to sit here and raise $100,000 to $400,000 and have it sit there for years,” Thorogood said, explaining that if the town wanted to replace the hospital, that’s what would happen.

“Our donors know the dollars they donate go to good use as soon as it can,” Thorogood added.

By spending the $16,000 on the study, split three ways between the foundation, county and town, the three organizations now own the study, unlike what would have happened if AHS had paid for it. This means the document is available for reference at any needed time.

“We’re not spending donated money on some major study,” Thorogood said. “But this is money well spent. We aren’t medical professionals, we don’t know what’s needed.”

In the past several years, Thorogood said the climate at AHS has been changing, for the better. The lines of communication are opening up, and while the foundation doesn’t always get what its wants, at least the province seems interested in listening.

Right now, the foundation is working on planning a major fundraiser for 2016, at the end of its 18-month fundraising plan. Though they’re not yet sure what form the fundraiser will take, they’re already looking for people who are interested in helping out – with it, and with other tasks handled by the foundation.

“With a board of 18 people, we just can’t do it all,” Thorogood said. “There’s no way just the board can do it. If anyone, any group or organization, wants to do a fundraiser to raise money for the hospital, we’d be willing to help.”

Support doesn’t just come from within the town and county, Thorogood noted. Since the hospital is the nearest hospital for many communities, with Red Deer being the next larger alternative, Stettler’s become important to a lot of the rural areas.

“We had a doctor in Coronation make a major donation, because she realized it benefits her community,” Thorogood explained. “She can send patients here, now, instead of to Red Deer. This isn’t just a town of Stettler project – it involves all of the surrounding communities.”

Anyone interested in volunteering with the foundation can contact Thorogood at 403-740-9121, or email her at nlthoro@telus.net.