Board members, staff and supporters of the Sackville Memorial Hospital Foundation gathered last week for the launch of a new capital campaign in support of equipment for the hospital’s day surgery programs, with an ambitious goal of raising $225,000, well above last year’s goal of $150,000.
Foundation chair Bill Evans says the reason for the steep increase in fundraising goal is three new, very large, advance donations which put the foundation more than a third of the way to their goal. “This is from people who hadn’t given to us before,” says Evans. “So we decided to have a goal that was bigger.”
Evans says the three new donors have asked to remain either anonymous or uncelebrated, and were referred to the Foundation by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Mike Forsythe.
The money raised in this year’s campaign will go towards buying specialized equipment for the day surgery program, including instruments for hip, knee and shoulder arthroscopy, a warming cabinet, a surgical suction system, ear, nose and throat devices, and a training tool called iSimulate.
Horizon says the new equipment will increase the number of patients who could receive surgical care in Sackville, in turn freeing up space in the Moncton hospital for more complex operations.
Sackville resident Jaryd Morrisey, who coaches soccer and badminton at Mount Allison, told those gathered about a knee surgery that helped him heal a longstanding injury, giving him back his active lifestyle. Morrisey said the hospital has had a profound impact on he and his family throughout his life.
“I think that having the ability to do more procedures will be very important for not only just athletes but everyone in the community who needs these procedures,” said Morrisey, “and hopefully a lot sooner than if you have to go to Moncton or other locations.”
Sackville ER hours ‘on our agenda’
Horizon’s executive director for the Sackville and Moncton hospitals, Christa Wheeler-Thorne, was at the launch event, and CHMA took the opportunity to check in with her about the current state of the Sackville hospital.
Wheeler Thorne says the Sackville emergency department “is on our agenda. And we are looking at how we can incrementally expand the ER [service hours.]” Currently the Sackville ER is open from 8am to 4pm. Wheeler-Thorne says staffing is the key to being able to expand those hours into the evening, and then “eventually overnight, if that’s the resource we have, the capacity we have.”
Recruitment on the nursing side has been “fantastic”, says Wheeler-Thorne, but “our challenge still remains physician recruitment.” A shortage of physicians is also an ongoing problem for primary care in the region, with a number of family doctors recently retiring or leaving their practices, prompting Horizon to establish a primary care clinic located across the parking lot from the hospital. But that clinic is still only operating with part-time physicians.
Wheeler-Thorne says Horizon is trying to create a model that will “best support the physicians that are moving into the community.”
“I think as we bring physicians in and improve our primary care, then we can look at how we can expand our emergency care too,” says Wheeler-Thorne. “So I think they both go hand in hand.”
The Sackville hospital has 21 in-patient beds which are used for both acute care and for patients waiting to get into long term care homes. Wheeler-Thorne says in both cases, Sackville area residents are the priority. “If you’re a Sackville resident, and you arrive at the emergency department and your level of care is appropriate for Sackville, you’ll stay here. If you need higher acuity or additional specialty services, then we would transfer you to Moncton,” explains Wheeler-Thorne.
The use of Sackville’s operating rooms is managed on a regional basis, with patient lists coming from surgeons’ offices, says Wheeler-Thorne. “We do look at how we can share the resources between Moncton and Sackville,” she says, which explains why one of the advantages cited in the day surgery fundraising campaign is the overall reduction of surgical wait times. The expanded capacity and variety of surgeries in Sackville is expected to reduce pressure in Moncton ORs, opening up room for more complicated surgeries there.
Beal University space still under construction
The interior construction involved in customizing spaces for Beal University Canada’s nursing program is creating some challenges for hospital staff, says Wheeler-Thorne. “There are pains, but I think the pains are while the construction is underway,” says the hospital director.
Beal University Canada is leasing space in the Sackville Memorial Hospital to run the in-person components of its 30-month nursing degree program.
“There’s some displacement,” acknowledges Wheeler-Thorne. “It’s always hard when you do construction anywhere, to live in that kind of an environment. But I think once Beal is open and up and running, there is a very strong commitment, from Beal and from us, to share some of those spaces, and to include some of our staff in education and training opportunities, and to share the equipment that Beal purchases for their space. So I am really looking forward to a collaborative relationship with them.”
“We have a commitment from their president and from the dean, and I have no reason to think that that’s not going to be a reality once they’re up and running,” says Wheeler-Thorne.
The first twelve months of a Beal nursing program are offered online. Beal University Canada announced their first Canadian cohort in January of this year, but some New Brunswick students had already started their studies with Beal University in Maine, remotely, with plans to transfer to the Canadian program eventually.
Wheeler-Thorne could not say when Beal’s space in the Sackville Hospital would open, but speculated it could happen by the end of April.
