Honouring a Life & Collaboration Benefits Sparwood Health Centre

Submitted by EKFH on 30-04-2014

Sparwood, BC… The Sparwood Health Centre received a very special gift this last week thanks to a collaboration of a local family, the Sparwood Health Centre and two hospital foundations.

For Ruth Emslie it was a gift to honour the life of her husband Iain, who, with his family were inspired to donate funds to help purchase a new trauma stretcher for the Sparwood emergency department. The gift was given to recognize the excellent care provided by Dr. Derek Higgins and the supporting medical and nursing teams. The Sparwood Health Centre felt honoured to fulfil the Emslie family’s request and graciously accepted donations from the family and community residents. It was a beneficial experience to collaborate with EVHF and EKFH to purchase a specialized trauma stretcher for the Sparwood Emergency Department.

Even with the Emslie’s generous gift a shortfall of just over $7,000 would need to be covered in order to make this family’s dream come to fruition. When that news arrived on the desk of Pat Moore & Aysha Haines of the Elk Valley Hospital Foundation creative ideas were soon put into place.

Ms. Haines shared, “When we heard Ruth’s story we just knew we had to help. Our foundation has been working closely with the East Kootenay Foundation for Health for the past couple of years so we made a phone call. In minutes it was decided that our foundations would join hands and complement the gift so the stretcher could be purchased.”

The Elk Valley Hospital Foundation allocated $5,000 through the regional Starlite Campaign, the Emslie family $3,370 and EKFH $2,064 to fund the total cost of $10,434. EKFH donated an additional $3,778 to fund a defibullator power upgrade for the emergency room.

“The opportunity to participate in this funding was very important to EKFH. To be able to show our commitment to regional health care is so rewarding to this family and to the health Centre,” says Donna Grainger, Executive Director at EKFH. “We also hope that this demonstrates to residents in the Elk Valley that the two health foundations are working together and not in competition to make a difference to bring new technology to the valley.”

Last week representatives from all the groups met to welcome the delivery of the new trauma stretcher. Catherine Coombs, RN gave an excellent demonstration of equipment which will provide a wider, more comfortable mattress with easy height adjustment. The mattress provides pressure relief for patients reducing the chance of skin breakdown. Tip of the finger controls for weight management and measuring, tilting capacity and steering and stopping mechanisms. Mounts for drainage bags and chest tube suction are located at all four corners. Convenience to help save time and help reduce injury risk with the stretcher’s head-to-toe x-ray capabilities.

To learn more about the work of or to volunteer with either healthfoundation in the East Kootenay contact the Elk Valley Hospital Foundation at (250) 423-6978 or East Kootenay Foundation for Health, toll free 1-877-489-6481 or (250) 489-6481.

Photo details: Donna Grainger (EKFH), Janice Talarico & Catherine Coombs (IH), Brian Clifford (EKFH), Ruth Emslie and Aysha Haines (EVHF)