New projects and people at MDHCF

By Julia Dima - The World-Spectator - April 6, 2015

The Moosomin and District Health Care Foundation (MDHCF) has been instrumental in providing resources for the Southeast Integrated Care Centre since before construction, raising funds to build the hospital and long term care facility, and continuing to provide the furnishings and equipment needed in the hospital, among a number of other projects.

“We had to pay 35 per cent of the construction for the hospital when it was built, but we are responsible for all the equipment and furnishings from that point on, so everything that needs to be replaced is replaced by the local community, and we have no problem replacing anything that needs to be,” says Holly McFarlane, who has been the secretary-treasurer since 2006. “There’s been millions of dollars of equipment put into that facility. Probably the x-ray and lab equipment has been the most significant amount . . . Recently, we supplied cardiac monitors for emergency. They used to have only one connected to the nurse’s desk, now they have a separate system right for emergency. In chemotherapy, they replaced poles and pumps—lots of money has been raised for the community oncology program. The current project—a big one—is for long term care. Outside the activity room is a courtyard. It’s been fairly unusable because of heat and water, all kinds of problems. So, the big project going on is to get the whole thing paved, a covered pavilion, raised flowerbeds—that is ongoing.”

McFarlane says there is overwhelming community support for the MDHCF from day one in the early construction phase to now, as ongoing equipment and service needs exists.

“All the community service groups are really supportive—like I can think of the Kinsmen, the Legions, the Elks Club, the Rocanville Thrift Store has contributed a lot of money to that facility. It just seems like every organization has something to give, and all together, it just runs wonderfully, it’s just such a great organization to be involved with,” McFarlane says.

But now McFarlane has decided to step down from the helm and let someone new play the vital role of the secretary-treasurer for the foundation.

McFarlane has been instrumental in a number of fundraising endeavors, but her final major project was the completion of the donor wall at the SEICC, which was unveiled in October.

“That was a landmark for me, and I felt like I had done what I had promised to do, and I felt . . . that maybe it was time to move on at that point in time. My promise was to see that the donors who wanted to be recognized were recognized properly,” McFarlane says. “I started accumulating money from donors back to 2002, so building that database and contacting donors, I had promised that would get done, and it just took a very long time. That was rewarding in its own right, too, I am quite proud of the donor gallery that is there, and I think we’ve all done a great job supporting the facility, and it’s nice to see those who want to be recognized be recognized.”

McFarlane says the most rewarding part of being involved with the foundation is seeing that generosity first-hand.

“I just enjoyed dealing with everyone’s generosity in the area, it’s been so rewarding to see how generous people there are and how much they supported the facility, then during the construction phase and now, it’s still very strongly supported,” she says. “I am very grateful to everyone in the community for their support for the foundation, and I’ve really enjoyed working with everyone.”

The foundation interviewed three applicants for McFarlane’s role, and Wendy Lynd was the successful applicant. Lynd retired from the Credit Union, and has been involved in volunteering efforts for the SEICC and health care foundation since the early days too.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to work within our area supporting the community. I always believed in volunteering in our community, and the foundation fits perfectly with that,” Lynd says.

Lynd says that seeing the full impact of the foundation on the community is what makes her passionate about being involved.

“(I’m) realizing how important it is just to provide equipment ongoing for staff and professionals there. I always believed in the donation part of it, but really understanding how important it is and vital that we have that for our staff—every contribution is essential no matter what size, just to keep our professionals provided with the equipment they need,” she says.

Lynd says she is looking forward to the challenge and learning curve ahead. McFarlane will be staying on to help as needed.

Along with new faces, the MDHCF is hoping to bring some new programming on board. The foundation has long supported the Palliative Care Committee and other patient services, and during their January meeting, two proposals were made to the health care foundation for new programs, both pilot projects, and firsts for rural Saskatchewan in the Qu’Appelle Health Region.

The first came from Primary Care coordinator Desirae Neville and Mary Hill, who provides volunteer spiritual care. Hill and Neville wanted to create a Spiritual Care Provider job out of Hill’s volunteer time.
“Previously, there were openings for the ministerial to come in and visit patients, and they had a box with everyone’s name and denominations, so they could pick someone from the denomination to spend time with, but there are privacy procedures now,” Hill explains.

“While taking my courses, and doing practicum here in acute and long term care, there was that time factor—we’re very focused and task-oriented, and at times we have to keep moving from person to person, so time to just visit isn’t there as much as we’d like, so I saw that as a huge need.”

The intended approach of the spiritual care Hill offers is to treat a patient holistically, instead of for their specific illness.

“When Mary and Desirae approached us at our meeting, they indicated these services were being provided on a volunteer basis, and they tried to get the health region to recognize Mary’s position—they have these job positions in Regina—so the foundation thought Mary made a very good case, we found that approach good and wanted to support it, so we’re providing a one-year contract to Mary to see how it goes,” McFarlane says.
This is a brand new project for the rural facilities in RQHR.

“We are painting on a blank canvas, and it’s so exciting,” Hill says.

This new project goes hand-in-hand with the ministerial services provided by clergy people like Mel Konkel from the Baptist Church, who says that sometimes, the ministerial is not always aware of the issues that Hill can see directly in the work she does with the patient, so the two forms of counselling augment each other.

In addition, at the same meeting, Konkel made a proposal for another project for the foundation to support, a professional grief counsellor coming to Moosomin.

“The association of churches with palliative care have recognized the need for professional counselling, especially when it comes to dealing with grieving . . . Even for people like myself, we have courses and classes and do counselling and have some training, but we are not professionals, and we felt the need to bring in professionals from outside,” Konkel says. There are no grief counsellors directly in Moosomin to provide this service.

“For people to drive to Regina is expensive, time consuming, stressful, and not everybody will do that. What we have done is make arrangements with Greystone Bereavement Centre (in Regina), so that they will send out a professional one day a month, and we provide the venue and travel costs. People phone into the centre in Regina, make an appointment and can meet the professional here.”

Again, as a pilot project—since Greystone has not done work like this in the rural parts of the health region—there is still some discussion and planning before the project can become a reality, but the necessary funding will be provided by the health care foundation.

The hope of supporting these endeavors is to improve patient needs and to be able to provide an avenue for the public to directly help these services.

“The foundation is channel, but it’s the donors that allow us to do this,” McFarlane says.

Suzanne Wilton, with the Palliative Care Committee, says that the SEICC would not be what it is or able to provide any services if not for the foundation, or the volunteers and donors that are involved.

“A lot of our health services in small communities would not be here if not for the volunteers,” she says. “It says a lot to the integrity of people that if you want it, you go ahead and do it and make it happen.”