The foundation supporting the Saanich Peninsula Hospital wants to raise $2 million during this year’s fundraising campaign, designed to strengthen primary and emergency care.
Saanich Peninsula Hospital and Healthcare Foundation (SPHHF) said in a release that the campaign will focus on three areas, starting with additional equipment for the emergency room, such as a rapid infuser, that would allow emergency staff to replace vital fluids with a touch of a button and allowed doctors and nurses to focus on other resuscitation protocols.
Within this context, the SPHHF points to a recent case, during which staff administered continuous blood transfusions to a woman who was receiving treatment for a torn artery to the spleen.
Staff kept the woman stable while they transferred her to Victoria General Hospital for emergency surgery. Without access to the hospital, the woman would have died, said the release.
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The second area focuses on raising funds for surgical equipment.’The surgical department at Saanich Peninsula Hospital is providing record surgeries for area residents, thanks to three (operating suites) and a new (surgical daycare),” it reads. “To maintain that gold standard of care, staff are in need of surgical equipment for all three (operating) rooms,” including anaesthesia machines, cystoscopes, IV pumps and a new operating table.
The third area focuses on raising funds to support community physicians, as the hospital is among the few remaining hospitals that rely on community physicians to staff its emergency and acute care departments. This means that a shortage of doctors in the community directly impacts the hospital.
“Gifts to the (foundation) support incentives provided to community physicians who commit to work in the (hospital) through the (doctor of the day program), providing career opportunities and a desirable work environment that attracts new doctors to the (Peninsula).”
For more information, see sphf.ca/close-to-home.