The Powell River General Hospital is ready to handle an influx of COVID-19 patients. But so far Powell Riverites have been successful in limiting the spread of this influenza.  We hope that physical distancing, mask wearing and isolating those who are infected will continue to prevent a rise in numbers of infections in our community.

Increased infection control measures have to be maintained so that the virus doesn’t get a foothold in the hospital or the Evergreen and Willingdon Complex Care facilities as well as in other vulnerable locations in the community . 

The Foundation is grateful for the support and commitment that our community is displaying as we all rally to manage COVID-19. We need to continue to "do as we have been doing" through this Winter and into the Spring of 2021 until a vaccine is developed and we can all gain immunity. 

The Foundation committed $208,000 to the purchase of equipment for the hospital in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020.  Equipment worth $85,000 was delivered and paid for in the year, including a second infant incubator ($26,000) and an Intensive Care bed ($40,000). The remaining equipment has been delivered and we are awaiting invoicing. This includes:

• Two Holter Monitors - portable devices for individual cardiac monitoring.  
• Two vital signs monitors - for bedside patient monitoring. Required due to increased activity.
• Prone pillows and portable suction machine - for COVID response.
• One bladder scanner  -  for the Obstetrics department so they don't have to borrow from other units.
• One ECG Cart - for the medical/surgical unit, to reduce the possibility of delay.

Purchase of the bladder scanner and ECG cart was made possible by a very generous donation of $100,000 from a local family. In addition to this equipment a large part of this donation will go towards a project in the hospital which is in the final stages of approval.       

Earlier in the year the Foundation committed to provide funding for training in Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). This training requires bringing in specialists from out of town.  However it has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  PALS training prepares staff to recognize and intervene in pediatric cardiovascular arrest or other emergency presentations. The goal is to develop a high performance team who can apply systematic approaches to the assessment and treatment of seriously ill or injured children.