Nancy Crump & Cara Lee Bowles speak about the ACE project at the Queensway Carleton Hospital

Leo Maiorino introduced the guest speakers: Nancy Crump and Cara Lee Bowles who fundraise for the ACE project at the Queensway Carleton Hospital.

 

The 34 bed in-patient unit focuses on Acute Care for the Elderly (ACE) to service the 14% of the population who are over 65 years. This growing segment of the population requires specially trained staff to address their unique needs.

 

When an individual over 65 years presents in Emergency at QCH with an acute need, an assessment is made to see if there are other chronic conditions present, the combination of factors indicating admission to the ACE unit would be appropriate. The goal of patient care is to treat the medical condition in a comprehensive way, shorten the patient hospital stay and focus on the return to independent living at home

 

$1 million of this $12 million project remains to be raised for equipment, education and training purposes. Stittsville Councillor Shad Qadri spoke briefly about the involvement of 8 west end city councillors in fundraising for the project. The Lions Club has challenged the Rotary Club to be part of the fundraising as well. Packages and recognition are available for different levels of donation.

 

 

 

Reference: Nancy Crump & Cara Lee Bowles, QCH

 

Target group:  QCH serves a growing population, currently 400,000. 14% are over 65 years and this segment increases by 3% annually. ACE unit was introduced to serve this segment: their hospital stay is double and overall health declines the longer they are in the hospital. Risk of infection in the hospital is high for them.

 

Admission criteria:  65 year old patient who presents in Emergency with an acute medical need and other chronic conditions. The goal of the ACE unit is to treat the medical condition, prevent other complications, shorten the hospital stay and focus on return to independent living at home with family support.

 

Location of the ACE unit:  The 34 bed in-patient unit will be on the 3^rd floor of an existing QCH building. The first of its kind in Eastern Ontario, the design is based on the Mount Sinai model with mostly single rooms to reduce risk of infection. The official opening is scheduled for the fall of 2016.

 

Fundraising:  Overall budget is $12 million. In December 2014, the province of Ontario committed $8.87 million to the project.  The provincial funding formula for hospitals is very specific with costs of equipment, education and training covered by local fundraising. Donations have reduced the outstanding amount to $1 million.

 

Fundraising efforts are focused on partnerships in the community and there is a donation/recognition program with varying levels of donation, e.g. $25,000 for a patient room. Envelopes are available for individual donations of $30.