Duane Hicks
As the Riverside Foundation for Health Care gears up for its annual Christmas donation campaign, board members got a good look Monday at the newly-renovated shower room in the Special Care Unit at Rainycrest Long-term Care here that resulted from last year’s generous showing by district residents.
“It’s just beautiful,” said Natalie Kearns, Rainycrest’s manager of engineering and environmental services, during a tour in which she outlined the upgrades.
The old shower, for example, had a lot of tile that was in poor shape. This has been replaced by new, slip-free tile.
“We had an old rad system down here in the floor that, of course, when you’re bringing residents in, got banged into,” noted Kearns.
“Now all of our heat is up in the ceiling.
“We had an old-type style shower and now we have a rain shower, plus the hand-held shower,” she added, noting the shower also sports stainless steel features.
The renovated shower room also is fully handicapped-accessible.
“It was a lot of hard work,” Kearns admitted.
“It was Andrew Gerber Construction who did it and they put a lot of effort into this room.”
The job included the removal of a half-wall (or “pony wall”) in the middle of the room. The wall had made it difficult to get residents to the shower chair, which also was replaced.
The floor also had to be modified so any water on it flowed to the drain in the middle.
As well, the shower has been decorated with soothing shades of blue.
“They did a beautiful job,” Kearns lauded. “The residents love it, the residents’ families love it.
“It’s exciting.”
Foundation director Samantha Manty said the idea behind the renovations was to make the shower room inviting, comfortable, and safe as possible to give residents a enjoyable, stress-free experience.
The makeover also was meant to make the shower room more efficient for the staff to work in, as well as easier to clean and disinfect.
The result has been “awesome,” said Manty.
“I think it’s wonderful,” agreed Foundation chair Kim Jo Bliss.
“Bright and comfy and cozy—it’s perfect,” she added.
“Glad to see that our money is going to something that’s brightening someone’s day.”
Manty noted renovations were done during the summer and completed by the end of August.
But Monday marked the first time the Foundation board got to tour it.
Manty stressed the renovations were made possible due to the generosity of district residents.
“The community was really generous,” she remarked. “I think we raised over $34,000 profit on last year’s appeal.
“People really saw the need for the room and gave generously.”
The renovations ended up costing more than $44,000, but the Foundation was able to cover the difference with other monies, such as donations that had been made to Rainycrest.
Upcoming campaign
Looking forward, the Foundation will be launching its new Christmas donation campaign later this month.
Money raised this year will go towards purchasing a coagulation analyzer for the Riverside Health Care Facilities’ lab at La Verendrye Hospital.
The lab currently has one, but it near the end of its useful life and must be replaced.
The cost will be $70,000.
“It’s a really vital piece of equipment for the district,” Manty stressed.
“The analyzer is essential in the monitoring of individuals on blood thinners and the investigation of possible bleeding disorders, and in helping to rule out clotting episodes, such as heat vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolisms,” she explained.
“There are quite few tests that are done with this machine and it’s not just used by Fort Frances,” added Manty.
“Samples are actually sent in from across the district—Emo and Rainy River—as well, so it’s really benefitting everyone.
“These types of tests are extremely common, so odds are someone you know has had a test by one of these analyzers before,” she noted.
The new coagulation analyzer not only will replace the current one, but be an improvement on it with new features.
For example, there are many new anticoagulation medications now being used and the new machine will be able to be updated so it can run different tests to account for the new medication types.
It also will have new safety features, including not requiring staff to take the lids off blood samples to do tests.
The new analyzer has the ability to pierce through the test tube caps—reducing the risk of infection.
