{"id":147290,"date":"2023-03-31T13:55:22","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T17:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=147290"},"modified":"2023-04-04T12:39:05","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T16:39:05","slug":"foundation-campaign-to-build-hospital-garden-one-more-reason-sackville-hospital-is-thriving-says-wheeler-thorne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/foundation-campaign-to-build-hospital-garden-one-more-reason-sackville-hospital-is-thriving-says-wheeler-thorne\/","title":{"rendered":"Foundation campaign to build hospital garden one more reason Sackville hospital is \u2018thriving\u2019, says Wheeler-Thorne"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sackville Memorial Hospital Foundation has launched its latest fundraising campaign, and this time instead of purchasing a new piece of equipment, the foundation has commissioned a design for a three-season therapeutic outdoor garden courtyard behind the hospital.<\/p>\n

The foundation hopes to raise $150,000 in its Rest, Restore, Reconnect campaign, and hit the ground running on Thursday with a $20,000 commitment from Moneris Solutions, and another $40,000 in the bank from the previous year of donations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m blown away by the support that this community, our corporate and our private donors, make to this hospital that we all love,\u201d said Bill Evans, foundation president and former Sackville town councillor. Evans said that since 2010, donors had contributed $1.3 million towards hospital improvements. \u201cThe future of our hospital as an acute care facility with a 24\/7 ER is of paramount concern to the residents of this town,\u201d said Evans.<\/p>\n

SMH is \u2018thriving\u2019<\/h2>\n

Evans expressed confidence that the hospital\u2019s administrators, Horizon Health Network, are also committed to its future. Sackville and Moncton hospital chief Christa Wheeler-Thorne was on hand to back him up on that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSackville Memorial Hospital is thriving,\u201d said Wheeler-Thorne. \u201cAnd I have some evidence that I can tell you about to demonstrate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sackville and Moncton hospital director Christa Wheeler-Thorne addresses the crowd at the kickoff of the Rest, Restore, Reconnect campaign. Photo: Erica Butler.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Wheeler-Thorne mentioned the recent renovations and repairs the emergency department which were completed recently, and cost Horizon about $400,000. Another smaller project worth about $20,000 involved a \u201cfacelift\u201d for the cafeteria, which Wheeler-Thorne said was, \u201cpart of the government\u2019s commitment to refurbish staff and patient areas to make them brighter and more welcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n

In yet another project, Horizon is spending about $2 million to renovating existing operating rooms<\/a>, as part of a system-wide plan to make better use of OR spaces in community hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re hoping that this will help alleviate some of the waitlist for short or less complex surgeries,\u201d said Wheeler-Thorne. \u201cAnd while we do that, it will help us to open up the regional hospitals for more complex surgeries and get them done faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hospital director also cited big improvements in nursing recruitment with roughly 20 to 25 nurses and LPNs on-boarded to the Brunswick in-patient unit and the ER. Although the 21-bed Brunswick unit is now back to some in-patient use as well as long term care use, the Sackville ER remains at one third service capacity, open from just 8am to 4pm daily.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to work on recruitment for emergency department physicians trying to reach our goal of 24\/7 service here,\u201d said Wheeler-Thorne. \u201cThat work is ongoing as is the retention work, because as much as recruitment is important, the retention is equally important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beal University still considering classrooms in SMH<\/h2>\n

After the presentation, Wheeler-Thorne also confirmed that Horizon is under negotiations with Beal University Canada to lease the former Queen\u2019s Unit of the hospital as classroom space for a new nursing program the private university hopes to establish in New Brunswick.<\/p>\n

Beale University Canada is currently undergoing an approval process through the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission (MPHEC) for its accreditation as a university, but as of March 13, the MPHEC had not yet received a program proposal for the Bachelor of Nursing degree program.<\/p>\n

Wheeler-Thorne says the space Beal is considering in the Sackville hospital is not currently used for clinical purposes and if the deal goes through, the rest of the hospital won\u2019t be impacted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a former inpatient unit that\u2019s currently vacant, primarily office space and some equipment storage,\u201d says Wheeler-Thorne. \u201cThey are looking at that footprint to see if it\u2019s going to meet their needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very excited that they\u2019re looking,\u201d says Wheeler-Thorne. \u201cThe space, should they move there, would be shared space between hospital staff and university employees and students. So we\u2019re really hoping that they will come and join us.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spot for quiet reflection<\/h2>\n
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Campaign poster for Rest Restore Reconnect, showing rendering of planned garden courtyard. Photo: Erica Butler.<\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

If Beal manages to open for business at the Sackville hospital, nursing students will also get to enjoy the new garden courtyard spearheaded by the Sackville Memorial Hospital foundation.<\/p>\n

Rest, Restore, Reconnect campaign director Carolle de Ste-Croix told the crowd on Thursday that the new comforting and relaxing outdoor space will be especially welcomed by hospital staff, patients, and visiting families. \u201cImagine being able to go to an area for quiet reflection, enjoy some fresh air, read a book uninterrupted, bring Mom and Dad for a cup of tea and a conversation outside,\u201d said de Ste-Croix. \u201cOr more importantly, unwind during or after a stressful shift or visit to a loved one.\u201d<\/p>\n

The foundation has already commissioned a design for the new garden from a landscape architect, and it\u2019s expected that construction could start in late spring with the project completed by fall. Evans says even though he starts out each campaign with nagging doubts about making the fundraising goal, \u201cWe always succeed. People in this town are very generous,\u201d says Evans. \u201cAnd so I have every reason to believe we\u2019ll succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Listen to the CHMA story below:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sackville Memorial Hospital Foundation has launched its latest fundraising campaign, and this time instead of purchasing a new piece of equipment, the foundation has commissioned a design for a three-season therapeutic outdoor garden courtyard behind the hospital. The foundation hopes to raise $150,000 in its Rest, Restore, Reconnect campaign, and hit the ground running…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":147300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,223],"tags":[24259,7640,24845,24844,3745,831,7717],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147290"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147290"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147503,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147290\/revisions\/147503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147290"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=147290"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=147290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}