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Pictured above are two new chillers, which are the backbone of the air conditioning system that is keeping patients, residents and staff cool at the Deep River and District Hospital and the Four Seasons Lodge. The temperatures may be hot in Deep River this summer, but thanks to funding applied for and received under the Health Infrastructure Renewal Fund (HIRF), the Deep River and District Hospital is able to keep patients, residents and staff cool.
In 2017/18, the Hospital applied for additional grants to replace both the air conditioning unit as well as the back-up generator to keep operations up and running during outages. Funding was received for these projects to the amount of $906,000.
William Willard, Chief Financial Officer and Vice-President of Operations for the Hospital, indicated that, “for the past two summers, the previous air conditioning unit at the facility had been failing, resulting in high temperatures in the Hospital and in the Long Term Care Home. These high temperatures were seen as a risk by our staff as we could not provide a cool space for patients and residents. High temperatures also made for draining work conditions for staff and put some Hospital assets at risk. Being able to replace this unit with additional government funding allowed the organization to provide a better atmosphere for patients, residents, and staff, as well as continue operations and programs as planned”.
The Hospital was able to replace both units during the winter months, giving much needed peace of mind coming into the hottest season of the year, and a time where power outages are a common occurrence. Richard Bedard, Chief Executive Officer, stated that, “we applied for additional funding through the HIRF program with the Ministry of Health. This program provides funding for capital projects that are considered to be high need for the Hospital. We worked closely with the Champlain Local Health Integration Network to advocate for the DRDH and show how crucial these two projects are to the people of Deep River and surrounding communities. Receiving the funds to complete these projects was a great success for our organization”.
In 2017/18, the HIRF program provided $175 million dollars to Hospitals across Ontario. HIRF was established in 1999 to assist hospitals in updating infrastructure within their facilities. The amount received in 2017/18 marks the highest infrastructure funding the Deep River and District Hospital has received since the inception of the program.
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