Healthy Hospital, Healthy Community Campaign

The Lake of the Woods District Hospital Foundation is taking advantage of a tremendous fundraising opportunity. This is in addition to the annual campaign to raise funds for medical equipment. The Healthy Hospital, Healthy Community Campaign is concerned with infrastructure priorities at the hospital that require immediate attention.The Ontario Ministry of Health & Long Term Care has agreed to fund a $4.9 million dollar capital infrastructure project at the Lake of the Woods District Hospital. This support is contingent however, on the community raising 10% ($490,000) of the total project costs.

$9 dollars will be leveraged from the provincial government for each $1 dollar of support that the community generates.

A community investment of $490,000 will result in the completion of a $4.9 million dollar project.

The project includes:

• Roof Replacements
• Surgical Suite
• Renovations
• Mould & Asbestos Abatement
• Medical Gas Capacity Increase
• Nursing Call & Communication Systems
• Emergency Power Generator Replacement

Purpose & Goal

The Lake of the Woods District Hospital has infrastructure priorities that require immediate attention. In some cases, over 40 years have passed without the resources being available for the necessary upgrades and improvements required in the facility

Our goal is to rectify issues that have been overlooked in the past.

• 17 leaking roofs are contributing to structural dampness, and mould prevalence at the facility. Repairs are no longer effectives. Replacements are urgently required.
• Failing patient call systems from 1963 (44 years) will be replaced with bedside microphones and speaker systems. Audio/visual upgrades will eliminate potential tragedies.
• Improvements and consolidation of hospital communication systems will improve efficiencies and eliminate unnecessary confusion.
• Security camera installations will support concerns in the Pediatrics Department and in the Psychiatry Department.
• Nitrous oxide capacity will be increased to match daily demands.
• A central monitoring system of hospital medical gases will improve efficiencies with inventory management.
• Constraints on the supply of bulk oxygen will be rectified with the installation of a larger tank. Concerns over safety issues will be addressed through repairs to piping.
• Removal of asbestos that exists on plumbing, heating and ventilation infrastructure will reduce long term costs of individual repair projects. The risk of exposed fibre in the hospital will be completely eliminated once and for all. The existence of mould will be remedied at the same time.
• The half century old emergency power generators require expensive annual repairs as parts no longer exist in the marketplace. Equipment in the Emergency Department and the technology now found in Diagnostic Imaging draws more energy than generators can produce when power is interrupted. A new generator will immediately ensure that a sufficient supply of electricity is available at all times.
• Retrofits to the surgical suite will improve the quality of the environment for patient care. The surgical suite renovations will positively affect the attraction, recruitment and retention of physicians & surgeons to the Lake of the Woods District Hospital. Bringing the operating theatre up to international standards will improve the ability of the community to compete for medical professionals.