The local Optimist Club has donated $5,000 toward the purchase of a giraffe for the obstetrical unit at Groves Memorial Community Hospital (GMHC). The equipment serves as an incubator, temperature-controlled bed, vital signs monitor and X-ray machine for infants.
Alma Optimist Club officials presented hospital representatives with the donation at a club meeting on Jan. 15, following an update on plans for the new Groves hospital and fundraising efforts designed to make it happen.
Gord Feniak, a past chair of the GMHC board and chair of the building committee for the new hospital, told club members the donation is especially welcome as fundraising is the only source of cash for new equipment.
“The government expects that all equipment for a hospital will be provided by private donations,” he explained.
Feniak said there are several reasons the new hospital is needed, including a “vastly undersized” emergency room. He pointed out the hospital’s approximately 25,000 annual emergency room visits call for an ER with roughly four times the current space under existing standards.
Better patient separation and ventilation systems to prevent illness from spreading and a lack of accessible washrooms are other key reasons for the push for a new hospital.
Feniak also said the extent of renovations that would be necessary to bring the existing building up to current standards would cost just as much as building a new facility and take six or seven years due to the need to continue operating during renovations.
Feniak said the hospital project is on target to reach the tender stage by April 2014, despite provincial funding cuts that have affected health care facilities around the province.
“We are really very fortunate that we have made it through two rounds of government cuts and the project is still there,” noted Jackie Ranahan, a GMCH director and past chair of the hospital foundation.
Despite receiving provincial approval for the project and compiling a trust fund with about $9 million in reserves and another $4 million in in-kind pledges toward the project, Feniak noted local officials still have to work through a process to make it a reality.
“We don’t have hope that we will get a new hospital, we have faith,” he said, adding, “You hit the home run, but you still have to touch all the bases.”
During a question period following the presentation, the hospital representatives were asked about the fate of the existing Groves building.
Feniak said the reality is that former hospital sites generally “have absolutely no value,” due to potential costs of demolition or site remediation. However, he pointed out the local hospital is in a unique position, as “the only hospital in Ontario that is not owned by the province.” The municipality of Centre Wellington holds the deed to the property.
“We’re dealing with the legal possibilities of what we can do,” he said.
Another questioner wanted to know if the hospital would be charging for parking at the new facility.
“We certainly expect that we will,” said Feniak, although he added, “I’m not happy about it.”
Ranahan explained, “it’s almost a requirement” of the province that hospitals charge for parking.
“They look at that as revenue,” she said, noting the province does not provide funding for parking lots, so hospitals are expected to generate the funds to operate them.
“If we don’t charge for parking, that’s not coming out of the province, that’s coming out of donations,” she pointed out.
Questions on the potential impact of the hospital on the local trail system were also raised.
While stating, “We’ll do our best to be good neighbours to the trail,” Feniak added, “We can’t develop 105 acres of land with institutional uses and ambulances and say we are not going to impact the trail.”
A member of the audience stated, “the trail can be moved” more easily than ambulances can be re-routed to access the hospital. Feniak said hospital officials want good access to the hospital for ambulances coming from all directions, including the north.
“We’re looking at several options,” he stated.
