Support for the annual Sundre Hospital Legacy Gala remained strong for the third annual event.
The Sundre Community Centre was basically packed to capacity on Saturday, Nov. 10 for the fundraiser, which helps to finance local physician recruitment and retention efforts as well as build a substantial reserve for the construction of a future hospital.
All of the roughly 250 tickets for the event sold out in a matter of days. And in the few instances where people had to rescind, there was a wait list of others ready to take their place, said Gerald Ingeveld, an organizer who is also the chair of the Sundre Hospital Futures Committee.
“It was a pretty quick sellout,” he said.
“First of all, it shows the support from the community.”
But such a consistently big crowd after three years also shows that people are having plenty of fun by coming out for the event, he said.
Organizers are tossing around ideas to evolve and expand the program without impacting the evening’s “homey, comfortable atmosphere," he added.
Last year’s gala fundraising total of about $30,000 was eclipsed by a single donation of $50,000 this year from Bruce Buchanan, the former owner of Sunpine Forest Products — now Sundre Forest Products — in memory of his mother Janetta Buchanan. The silent auction, live auction, and 50-50 draw brought this year’s total closer to $90,000, he said.
The committee has also grown over the years and will continue to reshape itself moving forward, he said. Originally formed primarily as a group to recruit and retain health-care professionals, the organization has been diversifying efforts and broadening horizons by getting involved in community action as well as the drive to establish plans and funding for a new hospital, he said.
Last year, the group raised almost $100,000 and has set a lofty goal of raising $350,000 for 2018-19 as well as starting a five-year timeline to begin plans for the new facility, which will include identifying and securing a suitable location through a lot of negotiations, he added.
“We’re eyeballing a few different properties.”
Building a new, modern hospital to serve Sundre and the surrounding area sooner rather than later depends largely on the community throwing 100 per cent of its weight behind the initiative, he said.
“That’s the biggest part to moving ahead with a project like this, is complete community engagement and involvement.”
Ingeveld, who again served as the gala’s master of ceremonies, presented the crowd with some background about the committee. It launched in 2011 when all but two doctors were planning to retire, move on to a specialized discipline, or leave the country.
Since a shortage of health-care professionals would have put the community at risk, the recruitment and retention initiative was quickly ramped up, he said. Those efforts yielded great success that over the past seven years resulted in bringing to 20 from two the number of physicians serving Sundre, he added.
He also recalled the community’s passionate response to Alberta Health Services’ announcement a few years ago that the Sundre Hospital and Care Centre would lose its long-term care beds.
With support from Mayor Terry Leslie and MLA Jason Nixon — who both attended the gala — as well as local health professionals, the committee lobbied the government and confronted the provincial minister of health, Sarah Hoffman.
“Rather than expressing the anger and betrayal we all felt, we asked the minister, ‘If we come up with a health-care plan for our community that our community supports and was designed by us for us and could also benefit rural health care across the province, could you get behind that idea?’” he said.
“And she said yes, so we went home and designed the beginning of that plan.”
The fruits of that labour yielded an agreeable compromise that resulted not only in saving several long-term care beds but also establishing an agreement with the provincial health authority to work together rather than apart on providing health care, he said, adding Sundre since has been referred to by some as a model of collaborating with the government.
Mayor Leslie praised the turnout and said he was honoured to play a part in this important initiative.
“Look at all of you out there, filled with passion, hope and a commitment to make the dream of a new health-care campus not only a reality, but the legacy that we will all share for the next 50 years,” he said, expressing confidence that Sundre’s can-do attitude will prevail.
“That is how we got the hospital 50 years ago.”
The mayor also said during a video interview played during the gala that, “we owe it to the next generation to make sure we carry on a legacy that we’ve seen provided to us for the services we enjoy today.”
That effort will require a three-pronged approach: presenting a strong case to the government to help fund construction; for the municipality to grant the land; and for the community to continue helping to raise funds for construction and the equipment that will be needed, he said.
Reeve Bruce Beattie said the Mountain View County council remains committed to working in tandem with their Town of Sundre counterparts towards showing support for the future facility.
Jason Nixon said the first person to text him when AHS announced its initial intention to shut down the long-term care beds was someone he “was very proud to call a friend. She left us way too early this year,” he said, adding that recognizing her role as well as her family’s in the fight for the hospital over the years is important.
“That, of course, is Joanne Overguard,” he said, followed by a lengthy standing ovation.
“I have no doubt in my mind that this community still will continue to fight to make sure we have that facility for many years to come.”
Also addressing the crowd was Moe Fahey, who helped set up for the evening, and Heidi Overguard, chair of the Sundre Health Professional Attraction and Retention Committee.
“Nobody likes to be in a hospital,” said Overguard.
“But as a patient, if there comes to be a time when you need one, you know that Sundre is the one you would want to be in.”
However, the provision of quality health care depends on more than just a building, she said.
“It has many pieces. One essential part of that puzzle is having professionals who are willing to teach and mentor students who are working towards careers in rural health care.”
Sundre has built a reputation among medical students who recognize the community as a great place to gain rural medical knowledge and experience, she said, expressing gratitude for those who decided to invest their skills here.
To further foster future generations of health-care professionals, she said a couple of bursaries, including the Joanne Overguard Memorial Scholarship, were established to help local students with a passion for rural medicine along their career paths. That $1,000 scholarship will be awarded later this year, she added.
Joyce Wicks also outlined another scholarship that was secured through grant funding courtesy of Alberta’s Rural Health Professions Action Plan, which sent representatives to the gala. The decision was made to divvy up the $3,000 grant into an annual $1,000 over three years, she said.
This first recipient of this new program, she said, is Jillainee Erickson, who is in her third year at the University of Lethbridge in the health sciences program pursuing a major in public health.
Visit www.sundrehospitalfutures.com for more about the committee or to make a contribution.
