{"id":30038,"date":"2023-03-31T14:40:23","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T17:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chmafm.com\/welcome\/?p=30038"},"modified":"2024-10-31T12:21:31","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T15:21:31","slug":"foundation-campaign-to-build-hospital-garden-one-more-reason-sackville-hospital-is-thriving-says-wheeler-thorne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chmafm.com\/welcome\/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 ‘thriving’, says Wheeler-Thorne"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sackville Memorial Hospital Foundation chair Bill Evans, Moneris Solutions representative Tanya Becker, Horizon hospital director Christa Wheeler-Thorne, and campaign director Carolle de Ste-Croix. Photo: Erica Butler<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\n\n\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\n\n\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 chair 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\n\n\n

SMH is \u2018thriving\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\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\n\n\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\n\n\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<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\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’s commitment to refurbish staff and patient areas to make them brighter and more welcoming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\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\n\n\n

\u201cThey’re 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\n\n\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\n\n\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\n\n\n

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

Beal 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\n\n\n

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Maine’s Beal University wants to set up a nursing program in Canada, with classrooms at the Sackville Memorial Hospital<\/a><\/blockquote>