Health Care Excellence Close to Home

DR. FORRESTER © JANIS JEAN PHOTO

Health Care Excellence Close to Home

Access to health care is essential to us all, but can be dependent on where you live. On the Saanich Peninsula, at the tip of Vancouver Island, where you’ll find Victoria International Airport and ferries to the mainland, the community is fortunate to have a hospital to meet its needs. The Saanich Peninsula Hospital (SPH) is a small rural facility that, thanks to the generosity of donors, has benefitted from upgrades and new equipment over the years to keep pace with the challenges and evolution of healthcare.

When the hospital opened in 1974, planners could not have imagined the advances in care that we’re fortunate to see today. Improvements in equipment, protocols, treatment options, and a complete change in staffing specializations mean that some parts of the facility—built nearly 50 years ago—have become challenging environments to work in.

In direct response, last year, the Saanich Peninsula Hospital & Healthcare Foundation shared a vision to fully renovate the Acute Care Unit (ACU). The current ACU is cramped and busy, with little privacy or respite from bright, noisy conditions. A renovation will provide better resources for staff and a better healing environment for patients. This $15 million renovation will bring the Saanich Peninsula Hospital up to date and ensure that staff can continue to provide the highest standard of care for years to come.

Considering its size, a surprising number of surgeries, interventions and procedures occur at SPH. The ACU is at the heart of the hospital, supported by and connected to all the other departments. Patients there receive care at various stages of illness, including the treatment and monitoring required after minor or moderate surgery; when someone has an infection and requires saving treatment; care for people who have sustained fractures or suffered a fall; and support for geriatrics, often those who are very frail. Palliative Care is also a part of the ACU at SPH, with 10 dedicated beds and a specialist team of staff.

What unites all these different clinical reasons for a stay in the ACU is that for the patient, it is a serious condition, possibly the worst they have ever felt in their life. The gravity of their condition, combined with the constant activity, unfamiliar surroundings, and the presence of medical equipment, can make for an overwhelming experience. The medical team's expertise ensures that patients are cared for and supported and that they achieve the best possible outcomes. With this campaign, the Foundation would like to help bring SPH to a physical place that will match its long-standing reputation of outstanding caring and compassion.

Dr. Forrester is one of the local family physicians who provides care for patients in the Acute Care Unit. “I am very SPH proud! There is such a legacy of incredibly dedicated, compassionate and hard-working physicians that, for decades, have kept this hospital afloat. It's a really tight-knit community of health care workers; we’re there for each other, we support each other, and I think that’s what makes this place really special.”

A renovation of the Acute Care Unit at SPH will provide the modern facilities that this community needs, now and into the future. Please consider donating today—with your help, we can make the best of the worst time in someone’s life.

Visit sphf.ca to donate.