Kindness in words creates confidence; kindness in thinking creates greatness; and kindness in giving creates love. - Lao-Tse
As
a not-for-profit organization, the West Parry Sound Health Centre Foundation ensures all donor contributions are used for their designated
purpose. Every dollar we raise is used efficiently as possible so that we
can achieve our vision: To provide extraordinary support for health care in cottage
country.
Designated dollars go to health programs or equipment purchase. All
undesignated dollars go to the current health centre priority. As the
West Parry Sound Health Centre celebrates its 5th anniversary
our current equipment needs are mounting.
We have close to $2,000,000 in needs identified by our medical
staff. Our two main campaigns in
2010/2011 are raising funds for a $700,000 Digital Mammography Machine
and completing our $1,000,000 pledge for Electronic Health Records
(EHR).
The Health Centre is a partner in the Ontario Breast Screening program,
screening approximately 2,000 local women a year. The program is critical to the local area, as women in remote
areas have less choice and more cost if they are forced to travel outside of
their community for screening. These
factors become prohibitive to regular screening. When the new hospital was opened, the Mammography Machine remained
the only analog system on site. Now, we
must update this 12-year-old equipment.
The Health Centre is
responsible for readying itself locally to connect to the central EHR program. The provincial completion date is, at the
time of writing not known. While much
progress has been made locally, work remains to be done.
Our geographic isolation demands we keep all equipment technologically current should any of our families or any one of us be struck by an emergency. Distances to major centres can be medically critical: Sudbury is 165km north; Barrie is 135km south; and Toronto is 225km south.
Key to progress in implementing
EHR at the West Parry Sound Health Centre is our upgraded
Admission/Discharge/Transfer (ADT) system.
This system is the core of electronic records and manages the
registration of all patients in the Health Centre linking to other systems
within the facility including
Laboratory, Diagnostic Imaging and the Pharmacy Departments. The summer of 2009 patient scheduling was added.
ADT is also used to track charts,
validate health cards, manage dictated reports and run our accounts receivable
system. Last year, the Health Centre's
system was successfully linked with the provincial Enterprise Master Patient
Index (EMPI). This innovation provides
one number for each patient. While this
modernization was heralded in the banking world decades ago, in health care it
is long overdue.
Since opening in 2005, the
Laboratory has used an electronic system.
But now point-of-care testing by nursing staff is added. Through the use of a docking station at the nursing
desk, results are now transmitted electronically to the Lab.
Other than our Mammography Machine, the
Diagnostic Imaging Department is a full radiology electronic information
system, in the middle of an eHealth Ontario upgrade to enhance remote reading
of radiographs. For patients with a
head injury rushed to our Emergency, this means a Neurosurgeon is able to
immediately view the CT scan images remotely.
The Neurosurgeon would then help our Emergency physician diagnose the
patient and advise on treatment. eHealth Ontario halted the project October
22nd, 2009 and has recently informed us that this work will now
begin again.
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