Impact Spotlight: Wireless ECG Machines

Laboratory Medicine Technicians stand with ECGs machines

Thanks to donors, six new ECG machines with advanced, wireless technology have been added to PRHC’s fleet. This means that cardiologists can access an ECG from a secure server quickly and on the spot to diagnose heart conditions, especially in urgent situations such as a Code STEMI where diagnosis begins in the ambulance on the way to PRHC’s Cardiac Cath Lab.

PRHC Interventional Cardiologist Dr. Katy Shufelt explains how these new machines are impacting patient care at your hospital:

“Having wireless technology for our ECGs has really advanced care at PRHC. When patients have an ECG, it’s immediately uploaded to a secure server and cardiologists can log on and access that ECG immediately. In the past, that process would have been much slower. And that five or ten minutes more can be the difference for a patient’s life.”

PRHC’s Laboratory Medicine Technicians (pictured) and Dr. Shufelt want to say “thank you” for making such an impact on patient care at your hospital!

If you’d like to make an impact, please donate online, or for more information, please call 705-876-5000.

Photo by Mary Zita Payne.

We love our hardworking healthcare workers!

A manager gives two nurses gift boxes
A message of thanks on a card with a gift box

Peterborough Regional Health Centre has an incredible team of nurses, staff and doctors. Over the last year, they have demonstrated courage and strength while continuing to provide care and support for patients and their families.

We’re so proud of them, and grateful for the work they do, every day. And we’re grateful to all of the donors who have helped us support them throughout the pandemic.

Donor generosity funded tools and supports such as additional scrubs, new plexiglass screening stations at hospital entry points, and iPads and supportive equipment for the Virtual Visiting Program so isolated patients can connect with loved ones.

Thanks to your donations, PRHC is better positioned in 2021 to continue caring for as many patients as possible while keeping patients, families, volunteers and PRHC’s 3,200 workers safe.

Now, PRHC Foundation is honoured to partner again with your hospital to show our healthcare providers how much we – and you, through your donations and kind messages of thanks – appreciate them. This week, 3,200 wellness kits made possible by the generosity of Foundation donors are being delivered to the Health Centre’s nurses, staff and physicians. Each kit includes both fun and healthy treats, and self-care products.

We also included one of a selection of the hundreds of personal notes of appreciation Foundation donors sent to us this year for our PRHC team members. We join the hospital in hoping these tokens of our and your gratitude bring a smile to their faces. 

As they tackle the third wave, our work continues. Our mission has never been more important. In addition to funding PRHC’s most urgent needs including COVID-19, your gifts are helping to give the hospital’s experts the essential tools they need to save lives.

If you’d like to support your hospital, please visit prhcfoundation.ca/love/. There you can send a message to the PRHC team and make a donation in their honour. Thank you for continuing to show them your grateful hearts!

Impact Spotlight: Orthopedic Surgery Power System 8

Masked surgical suite assistant holds a surgical tool

Recently, donor generosity funded the Power System 8, a battery-operated handpiece used for up to 1,300 orthopedic surgeries every year at PRHC.

Used nonstop for elective surgeries as well as with trauma cases such as broken hips, this one handpiece with interchangeable attachments is an essential tool for total joint replacement and helps patients achieve a more active lifestyle without the pain or disability they experienced before surgery. The upgraded handpiece can also be temporarily submerged for increased sterilization, helping reduce the risk of infection for our patients.

Cheryl Richards, PRHC Surgical Suite Assistant, says “Thank you!” to everyone who helped fund this essential piece of equipment. Because of the generosity of PRHC Foundation donors, orthopedic surgery patients are receiving the care they need to recover from their pain and injuries.

If you’d like to make an impact, please donate online, or for more information, please call 705-876-5000.

Patient says “thank you” for cancer care close to home

Doctor on stool and patient on bed smiling

At age 41, Melissa Hinze was a typically busy working mom, running a home business. But in October 2016, she visited PRHC’s Breast Assessment Centre with a suspicious lump. Scans revealed cancer in both breasts. She had biopsies and received an emergency diagnosis on the spot.

Melissa’s instinct was to fight. “What do we do next?” she asked. She met a patient navigator, received a referral for surgery, and shortly thereafter, had a double mastectomy. Since then, with her focus on living with cancer under the care of Dr. Neera Jeyabalan, Melissa has had hormone treatments, chemotherapy, further surgeries and hospital stays.

“PRHC is second to none,” she says about the donor-funded equipment and technology she’s so thankful for. She can’t imagine having to travel and stay elsewhere for treatment. Instead, all her care happens close to home.

Receiving care locally has been essential to Melissa’s ability to stay motivated. It’s allowed her to see life a little differently and notice what she calls “the silver linings” that come from having world-class cancer care close to home, thanks to donor generosity.

“Coming in here [to PRHC] and having great care is number one,” Melissa says, and for that she’s extremely grateful. “Because of this community, I have great care and the smartest, compassionate doctor. Even during COVID-19, I always feel safe coming to PRHC.” This allows her and her husband to focus on her care and healthy living at home, where she’s spending a lot more quality time with her kids.

Donor-funded tools and scrubs are supporting and protecting PRHC patients and staff

Last year at the start of the pandemic, as PRHC’s leaders and staff mobilized to prepare for the spread of COVID-19, the PRHC Foundation and our donors mobilized to support them. A fund was created to respond to urgent pandemic-related needs, and we were overwhelmed with your outpouring of support for your hospital.

A direct mail appeal and generous matching gift commitments inspired community donations. Online donors made tribute gifts in honour of frontline workers and sent messages of thanks to them. Under social distancing restrictions, businesses, organizations and individuals got creative with their own initiatives and directed funds to the cause.

As a result, the COVID-19 response fund had an immediate impact, helping aid and protect healthcare providers and patients. You funded a crucial supply of additional scrubs for staff and physicians, new plexiglass screening stations at hospital entry points, and iPads and supportive equipment so isolated palliative patients can connect with loved ones.

And when Trent University donated residence space as temporary housing so PRHC staff could isolate while working on the front line, your donations funded some of the additional costs necessary in support of this arrangement.

In addition to generous donations to the Foundation, you showed your love for PRHC in many ways: window and lawn signs, chalk drawings, gratitude rocks, drive-through parades, donations of personal protective equipment and homemade masks, and so much more. All of this kindness has been so appreciated.

You’ve demonstrated that we are all in this together. On behalf of everyone at PRHC and the PRHC Foundation, thank you.

If you’d like to make an impact, please donate online, or for more information, please call 705-876-5000.

Donor-funded equipment in the NICU is helping support our smallest, sickest patients close to home

Now more than ever before, we know a health crisis can strike at any time. When it does, we need our hospital to be equipped with state-of-the-art technology to give us the best care possible. So this year, we are particularly grateful for your generous support of Peterborough Regional Health Centre.

Your support is making an incredible difference. Recent investments in areas such as women’s and children’s programs are helping save and change lives every day.

Thanks to donors, a new radiant heater/warmer is in use in PRHC’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), where 365 babies were treated last year. For newborn patients who need additional, critical care, the radiant heater/warmer provides open, 360-degree access for all members of the medical team and offers an accessible working surface for ventilating and resuscitating. It takes constant measurements of temperature that the unit itself can respond to, and the unit is adjustable, so family members can be at the same height as the infant and participate in family-centred care.

In this and other areas, your donations are fueling vital investments that are used by our doctors, nurses and staff every day to deliver the outstanding care we all want for the people we love when a health crisis strikes. They’re also bringing innovative new treatment options to our region and helping PRHC attract and retain the best and the brightest healthcare professionals.

On behalf of the Health Centre, the Foundation, and most especially, our patients and their families, thank you for the commitment and generosity you’ve shown to PRHC!

If you’d like to make an impact, please donate online, or for more information, please call 705-876-5000.

“I will be eternally grateful to this community, for everything it has given to me and my family.”

PRHC Foundation Legacy Society member Ivo Nightingale explains how his bequest is a way of giving back for generations to come:

“I will be eternally grateful to this community, for everything it has given to me and my family. In fact, my life was saved at PRHC. That’s why I’m so set on giving back to the people of Peterborough, not just today, but for generations to come, through a gift in my Will to PRHC Foundation.

When it came time for estate planning and our financial advisor told my wife and me that we could reduce our estate taxes with a bequest, it made perfect sense to make a gift in our Will to the Foundation. We’ve made some provisions for our children and grandchildren, but we also think it’s important to do our part to leave them a strong regional hospital. We feel great knowing that our bequest will not only benefit our family, but also our neighbours and friends, along with the rest of our community.

I’m hoping that when you reflect on your own legacy and values, that you’ll seriously consider making a gift in your Will to the PRHC Foundation. Without affecting your lifestyle at all right now, you could have a huge impact on the lives of people in our community far into the future.”

For more information about making a gift through your Will to the PRHC Foundation, please call Lesley Heighway, President & CEO, at 705-743-2121, ext. 3859 or send her an email.

Always consult a professional financial advisor to discuss the best charitable giving options for you.

Giving back is a family tradition for this long-time Peterborough citizen

Retired banker Walter Howell says his father gave him some advice about giving back to the community that became words to live by. “Dad always said to try to give something back to the community. Take care of yourself, look after your family, but also try to do something for the community,” he says.

Like his parents before him, Walter was born and raised in Peterborough. The Howell name has a long history in Peterborough: his father, Walter Howell Sr., was a well-known lawyer and member of the community.

Over the course of his 37-year career with the bank, Walter Jr. has lived in many places, choosing to come home to Peterborough in the mid-‘90s, and retiring here a decade later. Being involved in the community has always been important to Walter, and he has given both time and financial donations to the causes that mean the most to him.

“There are many things that we need to support in a community,” says Walter. “The hospital is something that we’re all going to use at some point in our life.” As he sees it, the Peterborough Regional Health Centre is one of the pillars of our community because it plays such a key role for everyone, which is why supporting the hospital is a natural choice for him.

Walter also wants to help make sure that great care will always be available in the community for future generations. With career experience in banking and estate planning, he knew there was a way he could provide support for the future—through a gift in his Will to the PRHC Foundation.

As a professional, he has long been aware of what’s involved in making a gift through one’s Will. But he emphasizes that it’s easy for anyone to do. “A call to your financial advisor or lawyer is all you need to get things underway,” Walter says.

He adds that it’s something anyone can consider doing. “We often hear about the very large amounts that are donated to charity, but legacy gifts of all sizes make a real difference to our community,” he says.

“It’s not how much you give—it’s the fact that you do give.”

Walter advises that it’s important to regularly review your Will to make sure that it’s up-to-date, since families change and circumstances change.

This regular update also provides a convenient opportunity to include a charitable bequest.

As a father and grandfather, Walter knows that looking after family always comes first; but he also knows that he can look after his family and give something back to the community at the same time.

For Walter, helping to make sure Peterborough has a hospital that can maintain its high standard of care in the years to come is a way to look after his family, friends and neighbours.

“I want to know that in 20 or 30 years when the hospital gets my legacy gift, excellent care will be available for the citizens that are here at that time. Possibly even my own children and grandchildren.”

For more information about making a gift through your Will to the PRHC Foundation, please call Lesley Heighway, President & CEO, at 705-743-2121, ext. 3859 or send her an email.

Always consult a professional financial advisor to discuss the best charitable giving options for you.